Makoto Naegi and his daily life with Monaca Towa
by BrokeGex
Summary: Makoto Naegi's whole life changed thanks to the newest addition to his family—Monaca Towa! What sort of bond will they form? And more importantly, will his life change for the better, or for the worse...? Probably the latter.
1. Chapter 1

Monaca Towa gets adopted by the Naegi family!

He never truly believed that his luck was good.

Sure, his luck had got him to attend the most prestigious school in Japan—Hope's Peak Academy—where he was almost guaranteed success in life upon graduation. But, he _did _have to go through a whole string of unlucky events on a day that he would consider "the worst day of his life." For every good event to happen to him there would always be a hundred more bad events following close behind.

And when he looked back on that day—that beautiful sunny day—when his life turned upside down due to a _certain_ person; he wondered what he had done wrong in life to deserve such a punishment.

* * *

He woke up to the sight of the morning sun glaring through the blinds of his window. Rubbing his eyes, he removed himself from his bed. There was no need for him to dress himself up since he always slept in his green hoodie and black jeans. In fact, apart from his school uniform, his wardrobe seemingly only consisted of green hoodies and black jeans.

As he was heading towards the bathroom he was jumped by his little sister—Komaru Naegi. She was in high spirits, for what reason he didn't know yet.

"Awk! K-Komaru?!" He had almost fallen over from being jumped on, but he managed to regain his footing at the last second.

"M-Makoto! You must come to the front door immediately!" Komaru said. She was breathing quite fast that he was worried she would pass out any second now.

"Eh? But I haven't even—"

"No buts! You have to see the surprise!"

A surprise? Now he was curious as to what this surprise could be. What had gotten his little sister this riled up in the early morning? He was totally unaware that today his life was about to change for the worse.

"Okay, okay," he said, a small smile on his face. "I'll go to the front door with you."

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" she replied before dragging him towards the front entrance of the house. He saw his parents standing by the doorway, smiles on their faces as they watched them approach.

"Ah, Makoto! Good morning!" his mum said.

"Good morning mum," he said. "So um, what's the big surprise?"

His mother chuckled. "Why don't you see for yourself." She turned her head towards the door and called, "You can come out now! Don't be shy!"

The door opened, and he saw…

A girl in a wheelchair?

"Hello! Monaca is called Monaca! Nice to meet you Big Bro Makoto!" the girl said.

Big Bro?

"This may seem like it came out of nowhere," his dad said, "but starting from today Monaca will be living with us!"

Living with them?!

"What!"

Now, this was definitely a huge surprise for him; who knew his parents had gone off and adopted a kid without telling them. But in hindsight, their behaviour in the last weeks—installing ramps on all of their doors, removing all of their carpets, reading articles about adopting a disabled child—should have tipped him off that something was up.

"Isn't she so cute?!" Komaru said. She walked right up to Monaca and gave her a massive hug.

"Awww, you're so kind Big Sis Komaru!" Monaca said. "Although… Big Bro Makoto doesn't look so happy."

"Huh? Well, this is a bi—"

"Does Big Bro Makoto already hate Monaca?" Monaca's eyes were on the verge of tears. "Does Big Bro want Monaca to leave?"

"Wait! Wait! I don't hate you! I was just surprised that's all! In fact, I think this is a wonderful surprise!"

"Y-You do?"

"Yeah! I'll admit that I was surprised to see you, but in time I'm sure you'll be a wonderful little sister! So please don't cry."

He would later come to regret saying this.

Despite looking like she was on the verge of tears just a second ago, Monaca smiled at him. "Yayyyy! Big Bro likes Monaca!" she exclaimed, and did a little twirl on the spot.

How was she doing that without using her hands?

"Now that Monaca has introduced herself," his mum said, "why don't we have a huge celebration to welcome her into our family?"

"That's a great idea!" Komaru pitched in.

"Well it's settled," his dad said. "Let's celebrate our newest addition to our family, Monaca Naegi!"

His parents and sister departed to the living room to prepare the party. He and Monaca still stood near the doorway. Now that it was just the two of them, he felt a sudden dread of despair that seemingly came from nowhere.

Instead of feeling happy at having a new family member, he felt… afraid. Afraid that for some reason his whole life was going to take a turn for the worse from now on.

Monaca strolled over to his side and clasped her left hand onto his right. With a warm smile, she said, "I hope we can become best friends forever Big Bro!"

His fear for his future was evaporated at the sight of her smile. How could such an innocent child such as Monaca possibly make his life worse? With a warm smile of his own, he replied, "I have no doubt that we would become great friends Monaca."

* * *

With their hands clasped together, her adoptive brother led her to the living room, unaware of the small smirk that she was sprouting to his side.

"This'll be fun…"

* * *

After their celebration, Monaca had moved into Komaru's room. The days after her arrival were peaceful, and were in fact quite fun with their newest member of the family. With no effort, Monaca had integrated herself into his family and had won over their hearts with her jokes and smiles.

He was pretty relieved by this. He still felt that strange feeling of fear from time to time, usually when he's alone with Monaca, but he always tried to dismiss it as him not being used to her presence yet. Besides, what was there to be afraid of with Monaca?

…That was until she caused a certain prank that got him into trouble…

* * *

He stretched himself at his desk. After five hours of sitting and typing at his computer, he had finally finished the last bit of his assignment from school. All he needed to do now was save it and—

A sudden scream coming from his sister's room surprised him. This also caused his mouse to move just a bit towards the do not save button, and with a click, all of his hard work was gone in a single moment. He could only sigh at this; this event was just another case of his bad luck.

"And it took me five hours to complete it…" he muttered. He got up from his chair. "But I'll worry about that later; right now my sister's in trouble!"

He rushed to the door of her room and slammed it open.

"Komaru! What's wrong?!"

"I-It's… m-missing," Komaru replied. To say her room was a mess would be an understatement. It would be perfectly fine to say that her room looked like a hurricane had come in, followed by a tsunami, and then they both came back for another round.

Komaru was in the middle of turning her bed into an art piece, and before she could further her career in interior decoration, He shouted, "What's missing?!"

"The latest album from Sayaka!" she cried. "It was right here on my desk and now it just disappeared!"

"Oh," he replied. To be honest, from the scream he heard he had expected something a bit more horrible, something like she saw a ghost in her room.

"This is so bad," Komaru said, dropping down on what's left of her bed. "I spent so much of my allowance on that album! And I even had to wait in a long line to get it signed by Sayaka herself! How can I even call myself a Sayaker…"

He tried to think of something to say to cheer his sister up, but then their parents came in.

"Komaru! Makoto! What happened here?!" his mum said. "We heard a scream and thought something horrible had happened!"

"I-I lost the latest album from Sayaka…" Komaru whimpered.

"Oh," From the looks on their faces, his parents probably expected something really horrible, something like seeing a ghost in this room.

"Where did you last put it?" his dad said.

Komaru pointed to her desk. Well, what's left of it from her frantic search.

"Are you sure you didn't just place it somewhere else?" he asked.

"No! I am absolutely positive that I left it right there!" she replied. "I went to the bathroom for five minutes and when I came back it vanished!"

It was at this moment that Monaca came into the room. She looked around the room with a confused expression.

"What happened here?" she asked. "Were we robbed?"

"We weren't robbed. Komaru just lost an important item of hers," his mum answered. "It was an album that she had bought from the store."

He grew a little suspicious of Monaca. She appeared to be quite… indifferent to Komaru's situation. He decided to question her a bit.

"Monaca… do you know where the album might be?"

"Huhhh? Is Big Bro trying to accuse Monaca of theft?" She looked hurt from his question. "That's so meannn Big Bro."

"Well, I wasn't trying to sa—"

"After all, Big Bro Makoto was the one who asked Monaca to take it."

… What?

"What?!"

"Makoto, is this true?" his dad asked.

"Of course no—"

"Big Bro asked Monaca to give him the album," Monaca interrupted. "He said he only wanted to have a listen to it, so Monaca took it when Big Sis wasn't looking and gave it to him."

Monaca looked down at the ground, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Monaca is realllly sorry for making Big Sis cry. If Monaca had known this would happen she wouldn't have listened to Big Bro… "

"You don't have to apologise," Komaru said. She wiped away her tears as she got up from her destroyed bed. "Thanks for telling the truth Monaca!"

The tears in her eyes evaporated as Monaca giggled at this. He could only stare at her in shock. Monaca… was lying to his family by saying he took the album!

"Y-You got that wrong!" he shouted. Everyone in the room turned towards him.

"I-I never told Monaca to give me the album I swear!" he said. "Besides, even if I did have the album I would have given it back right away!"

"Well, why didn't you Big Bro?" Monaca asked. She placed a finger under her chin, her expression making it look as if she were deep in thought.

"Because I don't have it!"

"Then why don't we take a look inside Big Bro's room?"

"Huh?"

"If Big Bro realllly doesn't have the album, then we shouldn't find it, riiight?"

… He got a really bad feeling about this.

"Well, I guess that makes sense…" his mum said. "We should check Makoto's room."

His family and Monaca headed towards his room. Once they were standing near the doorway of his room, Monaca pointed at his wardrobe.

"I saw Big Bro place the album inside his wardrobe," she said.

They approached it. His dad opened up the wardrobe and just as Monaca said the album was there, hidden in the back of the top shelf.

"Th-There's my album!" Komaru pointed at the item of interest. She moved through them and grabbed the album out of the wardrobe.

"See. Monaca didn't lie at all," Monaca said to him. She sounded very pleased with herself.

He stood there looking dumbfounded. He was almost positive that the album wasn't there when he left his room. Unless…

"You must have placed it there when I left my room!" he accused.

"Now, now, Makoto," his mum said. "No need to shout at Monaca."

"Yes, mum…"

"Jeez, Big Bro really wants to place the blame on poor me," Monaca looked disheartened. "If Monaca really was the one who placed it in the room, how did she manage to place the album on the top shelf?"

Now that was a good question. How did she place the album on the top shelf? She could have reached the top shelf by standing on a chair, but the problem with that theory was that Monaca was bound to a wheelchair. He was almost certain Monaca placed the album there, but unless she could magically walk again it was impossible to prove it was her.

An even better question would be why would Monaca even do this? For the whole time that she was living with them she had done nothing like this before, so why did she do it?

"Now that the album has been found everything should be fine right?" his dad said.

He looked at his sister, who was… standing as still as a statue for some reason.

"Umm, K-Komaru? Is everything all right?" he asked.

Komaru turned around to face him. In her hands was the CD—snapped in half.

"Yeah…" she answered, her eyes dull with despair. "Everything is all right…"

"You, uh, don't look so good…"

"I'm fine Makoto… I'm going to head back to my room now if that's okay with you…"

"Y-Yeah, sure. Go ahead…"

They all moved aside and watched as Komaru shambled out of the room. Everyone in the room turned their attention to him once she was outside.

"Makoto, I hope you can explain why the CD is snapped in half," his mum was shaking her head at him.

"I don't know!" he answered. "I really didn't take the album!"

"Well Komaru is really upset right now," his dad said. "So I hope you'll buy her another copy."

"B-But I—"

"No buts!" his mum interrupted. "You're just going to have to buy Komaru another album!"

Seeing that he couldn't persuade his parents, he gave up trying to defend himself. When he asked his parents how much the album was, the answer nearly made him faint from shock.

"I-It costs that much?! B-But that'll leave me with almost no allowance at all!"

"Well I guess it's a small price to pay," his mum said. "Next time, please ask Komaru if you want to borrow her stuff instead of making Monaca take it."

And with that, his parents left the room. Now the only people left in his room were himself and the perpetrator of this whole incident.

"How did you do it?" he asked.

"Do what?" Monaca answered. She was still acting all innocent. "Big Bro has to be a bit more specific than that."

"How did you place the album on the top shelf?"

"Oh, that? Don't you know that a magician never reveals his secrets? A better question would be why I did it."

"Why did you do it?"

"Because I wanted to see what kind of reaction Big Sis would have!" she beamed at him with a smile.

"B-But why?! What would make you even do such a thing?!"

"Because! I! Was! Bored!" Monaca shouted. It was a miracle that his parents didn't enter the room again due to the volume of her shouts. "I! Was! Bored! So! I! Decided! To! Have! Some! Fun!"

He staggered back a bit from the sudden outburst. He had never seen this side of Monaca before. She had always acted so cheerful and kind when she was around him and his family. But maybe he was starting to get a little glimpse at the mischievous personality she hid underneath.

"Is something wrong Makoto?" Monaca asked after her little tantrum. "It's just a prank Big Bro, no one got hurt."

"You made Komaru cry though!" he refuted.

"She'll get over it. Besides, you're going to get her another copy anyway, so why get angry at poor little Monaca?"

"Because you framed me for it!"

Monaca looked sad upon hearing his statement. "Please don't be mad… Monaca realised she did a horrible thing, so let's forgive each other okay?"

Tears were starting to fall from Monaca's eyes, and he couldn't help but feel a _little_ guilty at his outburst, justified or not. He guessed it was just a part of his kind nature.

"Fine…" he said. "I forgive you… But promise me you'll never do something like this again."

"I promise!" she exclaimed, raising her pinky in front of him. "See! I'll even make a pinky promise with Big Bro!"

He was a little touched at this small gesture. He guessed she's still a good child at heart, although a bit mischievous. Her personality reminded him of a _certain_ classmate, and he shudders to think of what would happen if they were to meet.

"Fine then." He returned the gesture. "Do you promise to never do something like this ever again?"

"I do! Cross my heart and hope to die!"

"Then I forgive you." And with that, he interlocked his pinky around Monaca's little finger. "I'll go tell Komaru that I'll buy her another album. Hopefully, it'll calm her down."

He left his room to tell Komaru the news. If there was one good thing to come out of this event, he at least didn't have to pay for the damage done to his sister's room.

* * *

It was unfortunate for her adoptive brother, however, that he did not see the smile on her face after leaving the room.

After all, every child knew that a promise was invalid by crossing your fingers behind your back.


	2. Chapter 2

Monaca Towa becomes best friends with Makoto Naegi!

Most people would agree that he could be a little _too_ trusting and forgiving towards those with… less than kind personalities. While he acknowledged that his forgiving attitude could be seen as mere naivety; he truly believed that everyone should be given a chance at forgiveness.

Unfortunately, a certain green-haired girl took advantage of his kindness…

* * *

He held his now empty wallet in front of his head. All of his hard-earned money, gone in a single day…

He sighed and dropped down onto his bed. Despite the fact that he was pretty much penniless to afford anything, he at least didn't own anyone any debts like Yasuhiro. It was a small comfort to him in a way.

"At least Komaru seemed to have cheered up now," he said to no one in particular. "But I guess I won't be able to go out for a while now huh…"

There was an awful lot of noise coming from somewhere in the living room. Komaru was screaming about trash or something, and underneath all of that shouting, he could make out the voice of his new family member agreeing with whatever came out of his little sister's mouth.

Monaca. He had a hard time trying to discern his feelings on her. On one hand, she could be a sweet little girl who brightened everyone's day with her energy. But on the other hand, he had seen that other side of her, a side that seemed more malicious and...real in a sense? Maybe he should go to the living room, keep an eye on her so she wouldn't cause any trouble...

... But it was only one incident, right? She looked genuine when she promised him she'd stop causing any more "pranks", so why not give her a chance to prove it. She did come from an orphanage after all, so maybe she just needed time to adjust to her new home.

* * *

She managed to stop herself from yawning as she watched the credits roll. Right now she and her adoptive sister were watching an anime adaptation of "The Bomb Inside Her." It was lucky that her adoptive parents were out shopping, as her adoptive sister's feelings about the show were being vocalised throughout the house.

"I can't believe how rushed this episode is!" her adoptive sister cried out. "Yumi's and Shota's interactions were far too short, and the transfer student arc was finished in just one episode! They had all that build up only to lead to this?! That was a waste of a character don't you think?!"

"Monaca totally agrees with Big Sis!" she replied. She really didn't care about the show, but it was pretty amusing to watch the girl rant on like this.

"And we're up to episode seven already! How are they going to adapt Yumi's dilemma in choosing Shota or Motomoto with only five episodes left!"

"Maybe they should have made the anime longer?"

"Exactly! Oh, I wish the anime was longer so the characters can be properly developed…"

Her adoptive sister continued to rant for another five minutes about how the manga was superior to the adaptation, but she was forced to stop when she ran out of synonyms for trash.

Now that her adoptive sister had calmed down, it was time for her to start her next "fun" prank.

"Hey, Big Sis? Monaca needs to tell you something really important."

"Oh? What is it Monaca?"

"I think I heard a ghost in your room."

"Wh-What!" Her adoptive sister's face was starting to pale. "M-Maybe you were just hearing things…"

"Nope, Monaca definitely heard one."

Her adoptive sister's legs were trembling; she was worried that she would faint before she could prank her. Honestly, the girl must be very gullible if she believed that ghosts even existed. Oh well, at least she'd get some fun out of tricking her.

"Does Big Sis want to meet the ghost with Monaca?" she asked.

"H-Huh?"

"If we talk to the ghost, maybe we can get it to leave Big Sis's room."

"Y-Yeah! Maybe if I ask nicely, I can get the ghost to stop haunting my room!"

"Then let's go Big Sis!" She moved about five feet towards her adoptive sister's room before…

"W-Wait!"

She stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What is it Big Sis?" she asked. She forced a small smile to appear on her face. "Did you change your mind already?"

"It's not that…" her adoptive sister answered. "But shouldn't we prepare for this if something goes wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like, what happens if the ghost suddenly tries to possess us! We would need to have some sort of protection to prevent that from happening."

She was getting annoyed by the second at her, but she nevertheless played along with it.

"You're exactly right! Monaca didn't even think if something like that were to happen. You're soooo smart Big Sis."

"Awww, you don't need to compliment me that much." Her adoptive sister blushed at her praise. "It's the role of the big sister to protect her little sister after all."

"So, what does Big Sis have in mind?"

"Wellll, in the movies the exorcist always carries some holy water and a spiritual talisman, like a crucifix, when dealing with ghosts."

"Do we even have anything like that?"

"We can improvise, right? I'm pretty sure we can use plain water and something that resembles a crucifix. Wait right here while I prepare!"

And so her adoptive sister headed off towards the kitchen. From her position, she could see her filling two glasses of water, and could hear the girl shouting out incantations that were very much random nonsense made up on the spot. Soon after the girl was moving around the house, taking an assortment of items with no visible connection to one another, and crafted from them what appeared to be "crucifixes".

"Here you go Monaca!" Her adoptive sister handed her a glass of water and wrapped a makeshift crucifix necklace around her neck. She looked very pleased with herself at what she had made. "With this, there's no way the ghost can possess us now!"

She stared hard at the crucifix; what the hell was this? The abomination around her neck had the basic design right, but the figure on the cross was a different matter entirely. The body proportions were all wrong: the arms were too long, the legs were too short, the body was too thin and the less said about the face the better. A blind person would do a better job of making a crucifix.

But her patience was thin at the moment, so she's going to save the critique on her adoptive sister's art for another time.

"So we can go now right?"

"Yep, that's everything. Let's show this ghost what happens when you mess with us!"

The two departed towards her target's room. Upon arriving at the door to her room, her target opened it a bit with her free hand and took a peek inside.

"I-It's a bit dark in here… maybe we shoul—"

"It's too late to back out now Big Sis!" she interrupted. Now that her prank was so close to being pulled, she wouldn't let her target make any more detours. "Don't you want the ghost to leave your room? It's now or never!"

"Y-Yeah…" Her target took several deep breaths, the hand holding the doorknob shaking just a bit. "H-Here goes…"

Her target fully opened the door to her room and turned on the lights. They peered around her room, and aside from a few scattered things that littered on the ground and her bed, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Her target turned towards her.

"Well Monaca, I guess you must have imag—"

There was a noise in the room. It was faint, but it sounded like a cat scratching on a piece of wood. Her target twisted her body towards the source of the noise.

"I-It's coming from my closet!" Her target was moving as far away as possible from the closet.

"You see! Monaca was telling the truth," she said. She had to force back down the smile that was creeping onto her face. Seeing her look so scared was worth the wait.

"T-The power of Christ compels you!" her target shouted. She pointed her makeshift crucifix towards the closet.

…

Nothing happened. The sounds continued to emit from the closet.

"I-It didn't work?!"

Of course it wouldn't. No way a dumb sentence like that would work on an actual ghost.

"You need to open the closet Big Sis!"

"Huh?! B-But what if something comes out and attacks me!"

"Don't worry, Monaca will protect you with all her might!"

"Y-You promise?"

"I promise!"

"O-Okay… I'll trust you on this…" her target said. She tiptoed towards the closet; the hand holding the holy water looking ready to throw the entire glass if anything jumped out. She reached out for the closet door, stopping just within reach, and started counting down. "Three… Two… One…"

Komaru threw open the closet door, and what she saw drained the colour from her face.

Red. There was red splashed across the inside of her target's closet. On the walls, on her clothes, it was everywhere. An awful stench was coming out from the closet, which caused her target to cover up her nose.

"U-Ugh…" Her target could only let out a whimper at the sight.

"B-Big Sis… look!" She pointed her finger at an object underneath her target's clothes. Her target peered at the object.

It was a human hand.

Her target let out a bloodcurdling scream.

* * *

He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard an inhuman shriek coming from his sister's room.

"What the… that sounded like Komaru! Don't tell me Monaca did something again!"

He once again dashed straight to his sister's room and barged through the door. He was greeted by the sight of Komaru lying down on the ground. Near to her was a glass cup, its contents leaking out onto the floor. Monaca was examining Komaru with a smile on her face, her right hand holding a tape recorder.

"Ooopsies! It seems that my prank scared her a little too much…"

"Komaru!" He dashed straight towards his unconscious sister. "What did you do to her Monaca?!"

"Calm down Big Bro," Monaca said. "I just played a little prank on her that's all!"

"A prank?! But you promised that you wouldn't do anything like this again!"

"Did I?" Monaca placed a finger under her chin. "Monaca doesn't remember making a promise like that at all."

"It was two days ago!"

"Still don't remember."

He was ready to argue with her until he was met with a rotten smell coming from his sister's closet. He peered inside; splashes of red had stained the inside, and what appeared to be a dismembered hand was underneath Komaru's clothes.

"I-Is that blood?" he asked.

"Nope! It's actually tomato sauce," Monaca answered. "Monaca sprayed lots of it for her prank, and so it might take a _little_ while to clean it all up."

"What about the hand?

"It's a fake that Monaca took from her school's science lab."

He let out a sigh. While no one was seriously injured from Monaca's prank (apart from Komaru's mental state), she made a huge mess in Komaru's closet that would take days to fully clean it out. This had to stop now.

"Monaca," he said with a stern voice, "you need to stop this right now before someone gets hurt for real!"

"Jeez Big Bro, you're being mean again," Monaca said. "Can't we just forget about this and continue on with our life?"

"No! This is the second time it has happened, and you lied to me when you told me you'll stop."

Monaca's eyes were watering as her voice started to crack. "I-I'm sorry… M-Monaca is very sorry, so please don't be mad at me…"

She looked like she was about to burst into tears. Maybe he should forgive her and… No! He couldn't go easy on her just because she'd start crying. She needed to learn that there are just some things that she cannot do freely to others!

"I know that you're very sorry Monaca," he said, his voice lowered down to a soft tone. "But there are some things that are just too far to do. If this happens again I'll have to—"

"You'll have to do what exactly?" Monaca interrupted. The sad act from before was gone in a flash; now she observed him with an amused expression. "Are you going to punish me?"

"H-Huh?"

"Oh no, the big bad Makoto is going to punish me," she continued. "Monaca is soooooo scared. What a joke! It's obvious that you don't have it in you to punish me, since you're so kind that you'll never resort to violence. Why don't you let this go okay?"

"I-I'm not joking! If this continues I'll tell—"

"Tell who, your parents? You're going to tell your parents on me? Are you trying to get into comedy Makoto?"

"What do you mean?"

Monaca wagged a finger at him, making a little tsk-tsk sound before explaining, "It's not good to rely on others Makoto, especially on adults. They think they're soo smart; that they can spot when someone tries to pull the wool over their eyes. But as my last prank demonstrated, they're as dumb as they look."

She smiled. "But that's what makes them so great! Monaca is just a weak, stupid, pathetic little girl. What can she do against the adults who are clearly smarter and stronger than her? It's only fair that if they fall for my tricks they deserve to be used by me. So let me ask you a question. Who are your parents going to believe? Will they believe big brother Makoto who broke his little sister's CD? Or will they believe sweet, innocent little Monaca? I'm sure you already know the answer to that."

There was silence as he thought on her words. The girl simply kept on smiling at him.

"Now that I pointed out the obvious, why don't you be a good big brother and take the blame for me, meow."

"… No," he finally answered.

"I'm sorry. I thought you said no when you meant to say yes. Can you repeat that for me?"

"You're right that my parents sided with you on that day," he continued, "but I don't think they are as gullible as you make them out to be. You may think you know everything about them, but I was with them longer than you. I hope— No, I _know_ that they'll side with me over you!"

It was only for a split second, and even then he doubted if what he saw was real, but Monaca's face was filled with rage at that moment. When he blinked, he was met with a still smiling Monaca. There was no hint at all that she was ready to murder him a second ago.

"Oh really?" Monaca replied. "You sure are full of hope Makoto."

There was a loud sound near the front of the house. It seems his parents had arrived back from their trip to the shops.

"What great timing!" Monaca exclaimed. "Why don't we see who's right, even though it's _obviously_ me."

Monaca raised her hand… and slapped herself hard on her left cheek.

"Oww! Why did you do that Big Bro?!" She screeched out loud enough for everyone to hear.

"W-Why did you slap yourself all of a sudden?!"

"To get you into more trouble of course." She was rubbing on her left cheek where a very red handprint was visible. "Also, I'm going to let you clean up Komaru's closet. Is that alright?"

"Of course it's not alright!" he shouted, just as his parents entered the room.

"Monaca are you okay?!" his dad said. He rushed right over to her.

"We heard you cry out," his mum said. "What happe—"

She stopped when she saw Komaru's unconscious body on the ground. It was pretty strange that they didn't notice her much sooner.

"Wh-What on Earth happened here?!"

"Monaca played a pra—"

"Big Bro Makoto played a horrible prank on Big Sis Komaru!" Monaca interrupted. "He convinced Big Sis Komaru that there was a ghost in her room, and when she opened the closet, she fainted when she thought there was a dismembered hand in there! Monaca told Big Bro that he shouldn't do something so cruel to Big Sis, but Big Bro responded to Monaca by slapping her…"

Monaca pointed at the red mark on her face. "Can you see the big red mark on Monaca's face? Big Bro slapped Monaca so hard Monaca is worried that it won't ever come off…" She covered her face with her hands; sobbing noises were coming out of her.

"Makoto… is this true?" his dad said.

"Of course not dad!" he answered. "There's no way that I would ever do something like this to Komaru!"

He looked at his mum. He hoped beyond hope that his own mother would believe him over Monaca.

His mum had an unreadable expression; as if she was thinking deeply for an answer to a hard question. Finally, she let out a sigh.

"Monaca… it isn't nice for you to lie to your own parents like that."

"Huh?" Monaca placed down her hands to stare at his mum.

"We know our son very well," his dad said. "Makoto is too kind of a person to actually hit someone; I bet he couldn't even hurt a fly!"

"Ummm, thanks dad?" He wasn't sure whether that last statement was a compliment or not.

"Anyways," his mum continued, "I can understand that you might get a little bored around the house, but terrorising your own sister to relieve your boredom is unacceptable! I want you to clean Komaru's room as an apology."

"B-But it really was Makoto!"

"There's no point in lying to us Monaca. I want you to start cleaning up your mess by yourself and that's final! Do you understand?"

Monaca stared at his mum for a few more seconds. "… I understand," she said. There was no hint of anger or of any other emotion on her face.

"I'm glad that you do. I'll go get the cleaning materials that you'll need. As for you Makoto, I want you to watch her to make sure that she does the work, okay?"

"Yes mum," he answered. "What about Komaru?"

"I'll carry her to the living room where she'll take a rest," his dad said. "When she wakes up, I want you to apologise to her Monaca."

Monaca nodded, still staring at his parents with that blank expression.

Looking satisfied with Monaca's response, his dad walked towards the unconscious Komaru and carefully picked her up. His parents departed the room, their footsteps becoming quieter and quieter as they headed towards the living room. Once the sound of footsteps could no longer be heard in the room, he let out a sigh. While it was nice that his parents believed him over Monaca, he still kind of wished that they supported him back at the CD incident.

Speaking of Monaca, she's being unusually quiet after being scolded by his mum. That was until she started giggling.

"I guess your parents aren't as naïve as I thought…" Monaca said. "It must be so nice to have such _wonderful_ parents who love their children. I bet that they would never abandon you, am I right?"

"I guess?" He was unsure for a bit why Monaca was asking such a question, but then he remembered her circumstances. Now he felt a little bit sorry for her.

"Now that I've been caught, it'll be much harder for me to pin the blame on you. I guess this is what I get for being a brat…"

"Monaca! I got the cleaning supplies!" his mum shouted.

"Guess I'll be going then…" Monaca made her way towards the door. Just before she left, she said one last thing to him.

"You should be careful Big Bro… Monaca has to find a new source of entertainment now that she can't play any of her pranks…"

And with that, she left the room.

A new source of entertainment? What did she mean by that? More importantly, what did that have to do with him?

He thought long and hard before he gave up. He had no idea what Monaca had in store for him. Whatever it was, it most certainly couldn't be good for him.

Monaca returned with the cleaning supplies. While he watched her clean the closet, he told himself to prepare for what's to come tomorrow.

* * *

Tomorrow came.

…

Nothing happened.

* * *

The day after tomorrow.

…

Nothing happened.

* * *

The next two weeks.

…

Nothing happened.

* * *

It had been almost a month since Monaca had made that statement to him, and yet she had done nothing towards him that could be considered harmful. She also seemed to have stopped playing her pranks for good this time, although it took a couple of days for Komaru to forgive her. Monaca also got a new phone after asking his dad, and when asked why she wanted a phone in the first place she said that it was for emergencies.

"If Monaca gets kidnapped, how will she be able to call for help? Just thinking about something so scary makes Monaca want to cry…" Was what she told his dad.

Her guilt-tripping proved to be successful. His dad gave Monaca an old phone that he used to own and taught her how to use it.

"If you're ever in trouble, just use this phone to ring us or Makoto and we'll come help you," Was what his dad told her.

And that was when things started to go downhill for him…

* * *

He flipped through the channels on the TV, but there was nothing particularly interesting on any of them. He switched off the TV and stretched on the couch.

His parents and sister were currently out shopping. He would have liked to join them as well, but since Monaca wasn't interested in going out today, he was pretty much forced to stay behind and look after her and the house.

He sighed. Lately, he felt that he'd become Monaca's babysitter. It's not that he hated looking after her or anything; he just wanted to have some free time outside of the house from time to time.

Speaking of Monaca, she was inside the kitchen baking some cookies. She had asked him if she could use the kitchen right after his parents and sister had left the house. He said yes without much thought; partly because it was early in the morning and he was a bit hungry, and partly because her cookies tasted really good.

"Big Bro, the cookies are ready!" Monaca called out. He got up from the couch and made his way towards the kitchen. As he got closer and closer, the scent of the freshly baked cookies got stronger, making his stomach rumble. Once he made it to the kitchen he saw a smiling Monaca, and next to her was a table with a plate of cookies stacked up in a neat pile.

"Wow Monaca, these cookies smell really nice!" he complimented.

"Thanks, Big Bro! Why don't you take a seat so you can eat them?" Monaca said. She then pointed to a single chair propped right in front of the cookies. He sat down on the chair, picked up a cookie, and was ready to take a bite until…

"Wait. Don't you want to eat first Monaca?"

"Don't worry about me! Monaca isn't hungry anyway, so feel free to eat all of Monaca's delicious cookies!"

"Are you sure you don't want an—"

"Just. Eat."

The forceful tone she gave him placed him in high alert. Now that he thought about it, there was something off about the way Monaca's acting right now.

"Actually… maybe I shouldn't eat them," he said.

"Huh? Why doesn't Big Bro want to eat Monaca's cookies?" Monaca asked.

"Wellllll…"

"Is Big Bro suspicious of Monaca? Does he think Monaca might have placed something inside the cookies, like poison?"

"P-Poison?! Don't tell me you actually placed that in the cookies!"

"So it is true! Big Bro really does think Monaca placed something in her cookies! That's just like Makoto; he always assumes that Monaca is up to no good."

"So you didn't place anything in the cookies?"

"Of course not! Monaca was just very excited about seeing Big Bro eat her cookies. Monaca just wanted to do something nice for Big Bro, so won't you accept her gift?"

Monaca looked at him with a depressed expression.

"I'm still not buying it Monaca."

"Jeez, I never knew you could be so paranoid," she dropped her sad act. "I guess I have to prove to my paranoid Big Bro that I didn't put poison in the cookies."

Monaca grabbed a cookie from the plate and took a big bite out of it. She made a show of chewing the cookie, making it seem like it was the most delicious thing in the world, before swallowing with a loud gulp.

"See, Monaca is still alive after eating a cookie. Unless Big Bro somehow believes that Monaca ate the cookie that wasn't poisoned?"

"That's still a possibility…"

She took another cookie and ate that one as well. "Do you still mistrust me?"

"… Yeah."

"Fine then! Don't eat Monaca's delicious cookies! Monaca just wanted to do something nice for you and this is what she gets! I guess I'll have to throw my hard work into the bin because that's what Big Bro thinks of my present!"

Monaca grabbed the plate, but before she could do anything else he finally gave in.

"W-Wait! You don't have to go that far! I'll eat your cookies okay!" It would be a waste of food if she dumped the cookies, and besides, she wouldn't really poison him right?

… Right?

He picked up a cookie, gulped, and took a bite out of it, ready to spit it out if he tasted anything funny. Apart from the sweetness, he tasted nothing else from the cookie.

"I… guess you were right Monaca, I'm sorry for doubting you."

"That's okay Big Bro. We all make mistakes sometimes, some more than others. Monaca understands that she can be a teensy bit untrustworthy due to past events, but I hope that after this, we can build a wonderful relationship by spending time together!"

That might not be such a bad idea. She had stopped her pranks on Komaru, and spending time with her might help him learn more about her hobbies and interests.

He started to eat the cookies on the plate after finishing the one in his hand, while a joyful Monaca simply watched his every move. Her stare… was quite scary if he was being honest, reminding him of a predator watching her prey. After eating about half of the cookies on the plate, he let out a big yawn.

"You look tired Big Bro. Why don't you take a rest? Monaca will finish the rest of the cookies on her own."

"Y-Yeah…" He got up from his chair. He walked towards his room, every step becoming harder and harder due to the increasing fatigue he was feeling. When he finally managed to open the door to his room, he had to rush to his bed before he collapsed.

He immediately fell unconscious when his head touched the surface of his bed. By the time he woke up, it was already evening. Sitting across from his bed with a smile on her face was Monaca.

"Oh! Makoto is awake now! Monaca was getting impatient at waiting for you to wake up."

"How long was I asleep for?" He rubbed his eyes as he tried to get up from his bed.

"About eight hours."

He jumped right out of the bed. "Eight hours! How could I fall asleep for eight hours without waking up?!"

"I drugged you of course! Monaca took some sleeping pills in the bathroom and placed them in several of her cookies. Don't worry; I made sure not to put too much in. Aren't I thoughtful Makoto?"

Damn it, Monaca tricked him again!

"But why would you even do that?!"

"So I can do this!" Monaca took out her phone and pressed a few buttons before she held it to him. He hesitated before taking the phone and looked at the screen. What he saw shocked him more than being drugged.

"What the hell are these pictures?!" He couldn't describe what he was seeing, other than the fact that it was horrifying and if anyone saw this, his life would be ruined.

"Pretty neat right? Monaca had to borrow Big Bro's computer to create these pictures, so Big Bro had to go into a nice long nap in order for Monaca to do her magic. You really shouldn't write your password and stick it onto your computer Makoto, or else something like this would happen."

"Wh-What are you going to do with these photos?"

"I'm going to blackmail you of course! From today, Makoto is going to spend some quality time with Monaca as her slave forever and ever until he dies! Oh, and don't bother trying to delete them from my phone, as Monaca made multiple copies and sent it to a few trusted individuals."

He slumped to his knees; his face in disbelief at what he was hearing.

This couldn't be happening… He shouldn't have trusted Monaca when she said she didn't place anything in the cookies, and now he was going to be her slave forever? He regretted ever thinking that spending time with Monaca would be good.

"Hmm, what should Big Bro, I mean Monaca's slave first order be?" Monaca said. "I know! My slave's first order should be to give his entire room to Monaca."

"Wh-What! B-But where am I going to sleep now?!"

"I don't know, in Komaru's room, or on the couch? Maybe you can sleep on the streets? Monaca doesn't care as long as Big Bro gives his room to me, or else…" Monaca leaned very close to his face that their noses touched. "Monaca might have to tell some of her acquaintances to send the photos to the headmaster…"

Monaca smiled. It was a smile that terrified him. If anyone else saw it they would think it was an innocent smile on a cute child, but he knew better. For this smile hid nothing but overwhelming malice and cruelty towards the unfortunate soul it was directed at.

"I'll give you some time to pack up everything before you leave, so you better start right away!" Monaca took back her phone from his frozen hands. He stared at her with a blank expression as she made her way out the door.

"Why…" he muttered.

"Why what?" Monaca turned her body around to face him again.

"Why are you even doing this…?"

"Oh? Does Makoto want to know why Monaca is like this? Do you want to hear her backstory, and learn of the events that caused Monaca to turn into such a bad girl?"

He nodded his head.

"Google it up shitlord."

* * *

A/N: Monaca's a little shit.


	3. Chapter 3

Monaca Towa meets Makoto's friends!

He relaxed on his desk, never again would he wish for the school day to end quicker.

Not that he hated school or anything. It was just a fact that he was never the best at his studies; he always scored the most average marks out of the whole class. Despite that, he had never let his grades affect his mood at school. The time he spent with all of his friends was more important to him than academic achievement.

Especially since his life at home had been hell due to Monaca.

Ever since Monaca had blackmailed him with those photos (which he would not describe), he had been forced to do whatever she commanded without hesitation. She was clearly not content with stealing his room, taking extreme pleasure in his suffering as she forced him to do the vilest acts he could imagine. He could still taste the dried tofu on his tongue…

He looked around his surroundings; his classmates were all talking and getting along with each other, with the obvious exception being Byakuya. His classmates' happiness cheered him up a bit, while he recalled the conversation he had with his parents that day…

* * *

"You want to give your entire room to Monaca?" his mum asked. "While that is very kind of you Makoto, I don't think she needs an entire room to herself."

When Monaca said that she'd give him some time to pack up his belongings, he thought that meant he'd at least get ten minutes. It turns out that what she really meant was that he only had around thirty seconds to get out of his room, forcing him to choose only the most essential out of his belongings. He gave a farewell to the belongings he left behind, no doubt in his mind that Monaca would throw them all away.

Speaking of being rushed, he had no time at all to think of what he was going to say to his parents. When he asked her if he could have a bit more time to think she pretty much told him to improvise.

"I'm sure that you'll figure it out," she said, "unless you want your life to end today."

And that was what led to his current predicament; sitting down at the living room table facing his parents with Monaca right next to him. If he couldn't convince his parents to let Monaca get his room, there goes his future. And if he did, well, there goes his room.

"It's okay mum, really!" he insisted. "Monaca said she has trouble sleeping in Komaru's room, so I offered her mine so she can sleep better."

"Awww, how kind of you Big Bro!" Monaca said in that sickeningly cute voice of hers. "Big Sis snores so loud that Monaca can't get any sleep."

"Couldn't you just wear earplugs?" his dad asked.

"Well…" Monaca turned her head to him, the small smile on her face giving him the message "say something quick or else I'll ruin your life."

He blurted out whatever came to his mind. "I only have a couple of years left before I graduate, while Monaca still has an entire school life ahead of her. I might not need my room if I get a job that requires me to relocate, so shouldn't it be okay to give her my room?"

His reasoning seemed to have worked, as his parents appeared to be in deep thought over his explanation. Monaca gave him a thumbs-up underneath the table, which didn't make him happy at all at being forced to give up his room.

"Fine. If you really want to give Monaca your room I won't object to it," his mum finally said.

"We'll have to set up a second bed in Komaru's room," his dad said. "Not only that, but we'll also have to make room for all of your belongings. Are you sure you want to do this Makoto?"

There was a nudge from Monaca underneath the table.

"Yes…" And with that, he was kicked out of his room.

* * *

Unfortunately for him, this brief period of peace would be over by today. After school ends he'd go home, meaning he gets to spend more "quality" time with Monaca.

"It's too late to change things anyway," he said to himself. "Well, at least Monaca isn't around here to boss me arou—"

"Hey bro!"

He jumped from his seat. Oh god, had Monaca managed to get inside the school?! He had to get out or els—

"Makoto, are you okay?"

"H-Huh?" He turned around to see his friends Sayaka and Kyoko looking at him.

"You looked like you were ready to bolt out of the classroom," Kyoko said. "Did something happen to you recently?"

He looked around for the source of that comment before slumping back into his seat. It was just Kiyotaka and Mondo talking to each other; there was no sign of Monaca anywhere.

"N-No, everything is fine! I'm just tired that's all."

"Is that so?" Kyoko did not look convinced. He knew he was a bad liar, but it's for the best that Kyoko didn't know that he's being blackmailed by Monaca. Who knows what she'd do if Kyoko gets involved.

Before Kyoko could interrogate him, she was interrupted by Kiyotaka's booming voice from the front of the classroom.

"Can everyone be seated please?! I have an important announcement to make!"

He watched as his classmates started to sit down in their seats. Kyoko stood for a while longer, but she eventually sat down in her seat as well.

After waiting for everyone to sit back in their seats, Kiyotaka cleared his voice and said, "There will be a special event hosted by the school tomorrow! Students will be able to take one family member or someone close to them to look around the school's facilities."

"Why are we only allowed to bring one person?" Sayaka asked.

"This event was only recently created by the headmaster. The Steering Committee is not fully on board with the idea, so they imposed a restriction. If the event is successful they will lift the restriction and recognise it as an official school event."

Kiyotaka continued to explain the event in more detail. The purpose of this event was to raise more funds for the school, which will be achieved by showcasing the talents of the Main Course students. The school would also provide the students with whatever materials they need for their talent to be shown, provided they are within reason.

He had no idea how he was supposed to show his talent. Thankfully Kiyotaka elaborated that talents such as luck were exempted from participating.

"How disappointing," Celestia said. "I was looking forward to seeing what sort of event Makoto would come up with. I know, since you're free why don't we have a Russian roulette event?"

There was definitely no way he would play Russian roulette, not against someone like Celeste. Besides, it's unlikely to be approved by the school… probably.

"I appreciate the offer Celeste, but I'm good."

"Well looks like tomorrow is your lucky day Makoto!" Yasuhiro commented. "Why don't I read your fortune for tomorrow?"

"Umm, you don't have to do that really…"

Yasuhiro ignored him and looked into his crystal ball. "Tomorrow will be a great day for you Makoto. You'll get to see all sorts of sights that you never would have dreamed of seeing."

Well, that didn't sound_ too _bad. But he knew better than to trust Yasuhiro's psychic readings. He placed the prediction near the back of his mind to focus more on what he'd do tomorrow. He already knew the right person to bring for tomorrow's event.

Since his parents were busy, he'd bring Komaru with him to the event. She'd be so ecstatic once he told her the news.

The rest of the day was a bit more lively than usual, as the news of the event had been told to all of the students in the school. Everyone was talking about who they were going to bring to tomorrow's event. Some were going to bring their siblings or their parents, while others were going to bring their pets.

When the school day finally ended, he said a quick farewell to his friends and rushed home to tell Komaru the news. He, unfortunately, had to avoid Kyoko when he was leaving the school, as she was eyeing him for the entire day waiting for a chance to interrogate him.

This might actually be his lucky day; Monaca told him to pick her up later as she had to work on a school project. With enough time he could tell Komaru the news and hopefully get her to keep quiet about it from Monaca.

After arriving at the door to his house, he opened the door and was greeted with—

"Hello, Big Bro!" Monaca right in front of him.

Oh god no.

"H-Hello Monaca…" he said. He forced himself to smile at her. "I thought you were working on a project at school?"

"I was going to, but then I thought why not let other people do the work for me. Thanks to her classmates, Monaca got to leave school on time and get a free ride to your house! I think today is my lucky day don't you think?"

Once again he wished for his talent to finally work in his favour.

"Yeah, I guess you really are lucky… So how was your day at school?"

"It was boring! That creepy kid with the mask wouldn't shut up for the entire day, while this red-haired kid and pink-haired girl were arguing with each other. At least there was one kid who kept quiet, as I expect of him."

From spending time with Monaca he had learned that she never seemed to refer to her friends by their names, only by their descriptions. Her response to why she never referred to them by name was simply because she "forgot."

"Monaca, you shouldn't talk about your friends like that."

"But it's true though, Monaca finds them really annoying."

Monaca moved to the left to let him in. Once he was inside she closed the door and asked, "So how was your day Makoto?"

He couldn't let her know about the event tomorrow at all cost; who knows what she'd try at the event. "It was okay. School was just the same as always."

"Is that so?"

Monaca was staring at him, the same stare she always used when she knows he was hiding something. There was a shiver up his spine; he should really ask Celeste for help in telling good lies.

"Yep! Nothing exciting happened in class, but if you want I could tell you what I did today?"

"I think I'll pass." Monaca turned her back to him and started to move towards his former room. It seemed like his lie managed to convince her somehow. He breathed a sigh of relief until—

"What I want to hear about is the event tomorrow."

His body froze up. As the sentence left her mouth she turned to face him again, this time a devilish grin was plastered on her face. "Who were you going to bring tomorrow?"

"Th-There was an event tomorrow? I had no idea about it at all…" He didn't even know why he was still trying to lie to her; it was evident that she already knew about the event.

"You are such a bad liar Makoto. I would have found out anyway even if my teacher didn't make a big fuss about it today. You were going to bring Komaru to the event weren't you, without even asking your poor little sister? You're a horrible big brother."

Monaca moved towards him until they were a few feet apart. "Well, aren't you going to ask me?"

"Do you want to go to the event tomorrow Monaca…" he said, with no attempt to hide his gloom.

"Why thank you Makoto for asking. Yes, Monaca does want to go to the event and have a super great time with all of your friends!"

That was definitely a lie. There was no way she would allow his friends to have any kind of fun tomorrow. In fact, the only person who would enjoy the event would be her.

"Now then, what punishment should Makoto receive?" Monaca said.

"Punishment?! But for what!"

"For what? Why for lying to me of course. Disobedient slaves must be punished by their masters after all."

She placed a finger under her chin and thought for several seconds before exclaiming, "I know! Why don't you tell Komaru about the event?"

"But I thought you were going to it? What's the point of telling Komaru if she isn't going?"

"That's the point! Tomorrow morning, I want you to tell Komaru about the event, and when she's filled with excitement tell her that she can't go. It'll be so funny to see her become so depressed!"

"That's just cruel Monaca! How could you even suggest such an idea!?"

"Because I like seeing her in despair, that's all. It's not like you have a choice anyway. That is unless you want me to send those pictures to everyone you know?"

He could only lower his head. He didn't like to see Komaru in a sad mood, but if Monaca sent out those pictures it'd ruin his life. He's definitely going to make it up to her one day!

"Now then. Since I'm feeling a little kind today, I won't make Big Bro do anything embarrassing for the rest of the day. Buh-byeee!" Monaca gave a little wave to him before departing to her (his) room.

"I guess I'll watch TV…" he muttered to himself. He prayed in his mind for everything to be all right tomorrow. He could only hope that Monaca didn't do anything too bad at the event…

* * *

He looked up at Hope's Peak Academy. Even though he's a student now, he still felt that sense of wonder every time he stared at the school from the gates. If you had told him several years ago that he would enter such a prestigious school by luck alone he would have called you crazy. But here he was, about to step through the gates to start another gre—

"This school looks like crap."

He let out a sigh. The excitement for today was leaving his body after he realised who he was with.

"Whatever, It's no big deal. Today is going to be a very fun day for Monaca, especially after seeing Komaru become so depressed during breakfast."

Regret welled up inside him from remembering what happened this morning. During breakfast he had told Komaru about the event, his sister looking so excited until he told her he was bringing Monaca with him, not her. His heart dropped from the look of disappointment on her face.

"I can still picture the hope in her eyes fading away when you told her that she wasn't going," Monaca said, seemingly brimming with joy at what happened at breakfast. "She'll be so sad for the entire day, thinking about how much fun she's missing out. I actually feel kinda bad for her. Anyways let's go and meet your friends, meow!"

He looked at the hoard of people beyond the school gate. He knew that there were going to be a lot of people at the event, especially since the Reserve Course students were also participating too, but he didn't expect this many to show up. It reminded him once more of the massive prestige the academy had.

They entered through the gate to Hope's Peak Academy, fighting against the crowd to reach the front door to the school with him apologising all the way. After making one hundred and twenty-five apologies, they managed to enter the school.

"Wow, look at all of these events," he commented as he examined each classroom they passed. There were some very interesting events going on inside each classroom: there was an arcade in one classroom, a garden in another, and he thought he even saw a bear in one of the classrooms. "Want to go and check them ou—"

"No. I want to meet your friends," Monaca responded.

"But we have time for that later. Why don't we go see the various events? You might enj—"

"No! Monaca! Wants! To! Meet! Your! Friends!" Her shouting was attracting a few stares from the people around them. "So! Let's! Go! Already!"

"Okay! Okay! Calm down Monaca! It was only a suggestion…" Monaca stopped her tantrum and returned to her normal smiling self.

"So quit trying to stall me and get a move on alright? Your classroom is just up ahead riiight?"

"Yeah, it is..." He pointed towards his classroom which was a few metres away. Monaca grabbed his hand and dragged him to the entrance. Once they were at the classroom door, he took a little time to mentally prepare himself for whatever disaster was about to happen and opened the door.

"Ah, you're finally here Makoto!" Immediately, he was greeted by Aoi standing inches away from him. He flinched back.

"H-Hina! Y-You surprised me there."

"Ehehe, sorry," Aoi responded. "I was about to head out to grab a snack, wanna come?"

"What about your event?"

"I'm on break now, so it's fine! It's in another hour, so there's plenty of time to go eat. Are you coming?"

The malevolent stare he was feeling from behind was telling him no. "Not right now Hina. I'm kinda busy at the moment."

Aoi seemed like she was about to say something until she looked behind him. "Oh, who's this Makoto?"

"Hello! Monaca is called Monaca, and I'm Big Bro's little sister! Nice to meet you." Monaca gave a smile and stretched out a hand to Aoi for a handshake.

"Ohhh, she's so cute!" Aoi instead gave her a hug that lifted her up from her wheelchair. Monaca looked surprised by this and was now struggling to break from the hug. "Why didn't you tell me about her?"

"Ummm, but I did?" he answered. Monaca was giving him a look that was begging him to make her stop. "I think you can stop hugging her now…"

"Did you? I don't remember… oh well!"

Monaca landed with a thud on her wheelchair when Aoi let go of her.

"I'm Aoi Asahina, but you can call me Hina. Nice to meet you too Monaca!" Aoi gave Monaca a smile. She didn't return the smile, however, as she was too busy gasping for air.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go get some doughnuts. Have fun you guys!" Aoi waved goodbye to them and jogged out of the room in search of doughnuts.

"I don't like her…" Monaca wheezed out. "She's too energetic… I hope the rest of your classmates aren't the same."

They entered his classroom. He looked at the class roll posted on the whiteboard and noticed two names that weren't signed in—Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba. Those two had been disappearing more often lately, and he never had a chance to ask them why.

But for now, it was a good thing they weren't here; Monaca was gazing at his classmates, her eyes focusing on one individual for five seconds before moving on to the next.

Her gaze had finally fixated on of his classmates. That classmate was Byakuya Togami, sitting at his desk with a look of disdain on his face.

This wasn't going to be good.

Before he could do anything Monaca moved towards Byakuya at breakneck speed. She stopped just a few centimetres before she made contact with his desk.

"Hello! Monaca is called Monaca!" Monaca said. "Nice to meet you!"

Byakuya didn't react at all to her greeting, not even turning his head around to acknowledge her presence.

"Hellooo?" Monaca waved a hand in front of his face, triggering a scowl from the Ultimate Affluent Progeny. Byakuya finally turned to face Monaca.

"What do you want?" he asked. "Can't you see I'm clearly occupied at the moment; if you don't have anything important to say then get out my sight."

Monaca seemed unfazed by his words. "You're the famous Byakuya Togami, right? I heard a lot of good things about you."

"That's to be expected. I am a man without flaws after all."

He was still near the doorway watching Monaca trying to converse with Byakuya. The conversation didn't seem too bad… Aside from intruding on Byakuya's personal space, she was acting well-behaved. Maybe everything will be al—

"Is it true that you cross-dressed in order to become the heir of the Togami Group?" Monaca asked.

The whole room became silent. Everyone in the classroom had heard her question and had stopped whatever they were doing to focus on the two. He immediately rushed towards her location.

"H-How dare y-you say that to master!" Toko screeched. "A-As if he would ever lower himself to such a degrading act! Although if he did…"

Toko entered into another one of her delusions, which only caused further irritation for the Ultimate Affluent Progeny.

"What kind of nonsense are you blabbering about?!" Byakuya asked. His expression was a mix of surprise and anger. "If you're trying to be humorous then I'm afraid you've failed in that regard."

"But Monaca read it on the internet," Monaca responded in a cheery manner. "So is it true that you cross-dressed or not?"

"Monaca, you shouldn't say stuff like that!" he said. "You'll make him upset!"

She ignored him. "Another question. Is it true that you have one hundred and eight siblings, and that all of them were chosen for the selection process except you? That's quite sad y'know."

"Once again you are completely wrong with your facts." Byakuya directed his attention to him, the glare on his face making him gulp. "I take it that this brat belongs to you? Get her out of my sight; I'm done talking to her."

"S-Sorry Byakuya, Monaca was just curious about you that's all." He moved Monaca's wheelchair as far away as possible from the scowling prodigy.

"Jeez, it was only a few questions…" Monaca said. "He doesn't have to act like such a child. Why don't you tell him that Naegi?"

"Only I'm allowed to say that!" Byakuya called out.

"Woah, I've never seen Byakuya get that mad before!" someone commented in the classroom. "Good job kid!"

They looked at the direction the voice came from. Mondo was sitting at the corner with a grin on his face.

Monaca stared at Mondo for a while, and with a smile, she uttered, "Your hair looks like shit."

"What the fuck did you say about my hair?! I'll kill you!" Mondo tried to rush towards her, but he was restrained by Kiyotaka and Sakura. He wheeled Monaca out of the classroom before she could say anything else. Once they were outside he shut the classroom door and gave her a displeased stare.

"What?" She shrugged her shoulders. "His hairstyle really was bad."

"What are you doing Monaca?!" he said in a hushed voice, not wanting to attract any attention from the people passing by. "Why are you deliberately trying to get them angry?!"

"Huh? I'm not trying to anger your friends. I'm trying to get along with them that's all."

He sighed for the second time this day. Monaca was obviously trying to rile up his friends for her own amusement. The only thing he could do now was contain the damage and make sure they didn't do anything they'd regret.

"You look like you're in trouble Makoto," a voice spoke near his ear.

He jumped and turned around to face the person. "K-Kyoko!? How long were you standing there?"

"For a few minutes." Kyoko moved her attention away from him to Monaca.

"Hello! Monaca is called Monaca!" She held out a hand. "What's your name?"

Kyoko didn't shake Monaca's hand; she only kept looking at her. Monaca lowered her hand as Kyoko focused her attention on him. "So this is your adopted sister…"

"Oh my, has my big brother been gossiping about his little sister?" Monaca gave him a look. "I do hope they were all good things about her."

This was bad. He'd been hoping to avoid meeting Kyoko while with Monaca. Now she was definitely going to try and interrogate him about yesterday.

"Why don't we have a chat right now?"

"Uhhh, while I really like to talk to you right now, I… was just about to take Monaca to see the other events! How about we talk at another time?"

"Oh you don't have to worry about me Big Bro," Monaca piped in. "We have plenty of time, so go ahead and talk alllll you want. I'll just stay right here with my mouth zipped shut."

Damn it, there goes that excuse. Kyoko wasn't the Ultimate Detective for nothing; she'd find out what's going on between him and Monaca if they talked. He prayed in his mind for his luck to find a way out this.

"Umm excuse me…" said a quiet voice behind him. He turned around and recognised the person speaking as one of his senior classmates, Chiaki Nanami.

"Oh, hello Chiaki," he replied. "Um, is there something you need?"

"I was wondering if you could help me carry some supplies outside of the school." She looked at each of them. "It will only take a few minutes. But if you're busy I can look for someone else."

"Nope, I'm definitely free at the moment!"

"Really? You don't have to force yours—"

"It's fine!"

He thanked his luck for this; maybe he wasn't that unlucky after all. He turned to Kyoko. "Sorry about this Kyoko, but I'm going to go help her out for a bit. Is that all right with you?"

She sighed. "Yes, it's fine Makoto. But after this we're going to talk, and this time you're not getting out of it."

"Yeah, I guess that's fair." While this was only a temporary solution, it should give him some time to think of what to say to her. Now all he had to deal with was the small problem smiling at him.

"Wait right here Monaca," he said. "I'll be back in a few minutes, so don't do _anything _while I'm gone."

"Okay Big Bro!" Monaca replied. "Monaca will stay right here and not cause any trouble."

He didn't believe that for a second, so he asked Kyoko for a favour. "I'm sorry for asking, but could you look after Monaca while I'm gone?"

Kyoko nodded, and so he departed with Chiaki to help her out with her task. He gave several glances behind him to make sure Monaca was still with Kyoko. Monaca waved at him, not reassuring him in the slightest.

It'll only be a few minutes. How much trouble could she cause in such a short time?

* * *

She looked at the detective, who in turn looked back. "Now that Big Bro is gone, why don't we get to know each other? Monaca heard sooo many things about you…"

* * *

Three minutes.

He was gone for three minutes, but apparently, that was all it took for things to take a turn for the worst.

When he and Chiaki were approaching the school entrance with the supplies in hand they were surprised to see people running outside of the school screaming. Once they were inside they could see why people were exiting the building en masse.

It was as if they were in a zoo. All kinds of animals were roaming around the hallways including (from what he could see); snakes, eagles, and bears. People were scurrying to get away from the animals.

"This is unexpected," Chiaki said. "Why are the animals out? And where is Gundham? Leave the supplies here Makoto; I'm going to check his classroom to see what's going on."

Chiaki left him to go to her class. He stood there watching the mess as he pondered how on Earth this could have happened.

… Actually, he had a good idea on who caused this.

With no time to waste he sprinted to his classroom, while also avoiding all of the animals roaming the hallways. As he was nearing his destination he could see Monaca was still standing in the same spot where he left her, a smile on her face as she watched the mayhem around her.

"There you are Makoto!" Monaca greeted. "I was wondering when you would show up."

"What did you do Monaca?!"

"What did I do? I didn't do anything at all. As you can see I'm right here as you asked."

He just noticed that there was an awful lot of shouting going on from his classroom. He opened the classroom and had to duck down immediately when a chair came at him from out of nowhere.

"What is going on in here?" he uttered to himself when he saw the state of the classroom. Mondo was being contained by Kiyotaka, Sakura, and one other person from Mondo's gang. There were scattered pieces of tables and chairs around Mondo, and near him was a smashed window.

"Settle down boss!" the gang member shouted. "I think your hairstyle looks cool!"

"I'm gonna kill that little shit!" Mondo shouted. "My hair does not look like cow shit stuck on the road!" He made a beeline towards his location but was pushed back by the three people holding onto him.

"O-Okay Kanon, j-just calm down." He turned his head to the next scene. Leon was trying to break up a fight between his cousin and Sayaka, both exchanging swears that would make a sailor blush.

Those weren't the only problems in the classroom. Chihiro was crying at her desk while Aoi, her brother, and Chihiro's dad were trying to calm her down. Toko was lying on the floor unconscious while her stinkbug was moving around her, and Byakuya was sitting in the corner, giving angry glares to everyone else (so being himself).

"You're back Makoto," a voice said next to him. He turned his head to see it was Kyoko, who looked as calm as ever. "You missed quite a lot of events while you were away."

"Wh-What happened while I was gone Kyoko?!" he asked.

"Shortly after you left Hina came back from her break. Your little sister convinced her to let her into the classroom, against my better judgement. She said some… colourful things to everyone."

He could have sworn he saw her twitch a bit. "This has resulted in some of our classmates overreacting."

He noticed that one of his classmates was missing. "Uh, where's Yasuhiro?"

"He jumped out of the window."

"What?! Why?!"

"No idea. But he did mention something about being found by the mafia before he jumped. Don't worry, he's alive."

"That's too bad," Monaca said behind them.

"During the ensuing chaos in the classroom, your little sister slipped out of the room when my attention was diverted. It took me a while to catch her, but as you can see…"

There was a scream somewhere in the school, followed by the roar of a lion.

"… The damage was already done."

"Hey Big Bro, did you know that Silverback gorillas hate eye contact?" Monaca asked. "It was quite an eye-opener for me!"

"A word of advice Makoto," Kyoko said. "Don't bring her ever again."

The tone from her voice told him that she might not be the biggest fan of Monaca. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He hoped this was the worst it could get.

Soon after, he heard an explosion somewhere in the school.

"Damn it."

* * *

The school managed to contain the situation within the next hour, but the amount of damage done meant the event was a failure. The Steering Committee told the headmaster the event was an embarrassment to the school, and have forbidden him from implementing any more events in the future. The cause of such a failure was unknown, but students and families have said that a girl in a wheelchair was responsible.

"Such nonsense. One girl can't cause this much chaos in such a short time." Was the Steering Committee's response.

Students and families left the school in disappointed spirits.

* * *

"That was so much better than I had anticipated!" Monaca said, with a smile so bright on her face the sun would look away in shame. "Seeing everything devolving so quickly into chaos because of some choice words; your classmates aren't as boring as I thought."

"I'm glad you liked my classmates…" he said.

After barely surviving Kyoko's interrogation, he and Monaca were finally allowed to return home. All he wanted in life at the moment was to take a nice long nap at home, and that was the only thing keeping him from collapsing out on the street.

Monaca peeked into the bag on her lap, which she claimed to have bought with the money she graciously borrowed from him. She let out a laugh. "There were so many goodies at the event as well! I bet Big Sis would love it if I gave her this since Makoto was a meanie who told her she can't come."

He would have retorted that it was her idea in the first place, but he knew that there was no point in arguing against her.

"And since I had a great time, I'll give you some advice."

Monaca was giving him advice? He guessed it wouldn't hurt to ask. "What's your advice?"

"Use your friends. You're surrounded by people with all kinds of talents and you're not even taking advantage of them! You need to squeeze them like a lemon, and keep on squeezing them until they are all gross and devoid of talent. Then you throw them away!"

Yeah, he didn't know why he expected something good from her mouth. "Monaca, I'm not going to use my friends like that!"

"Oh please. You don't really expect your friendships to last forever Makoto? That's just pure naivety even from you. Friendships are such fragile things after all; one wrong thing from your mouth and poof, your best friend is now your worst enemy. Even if that didn't happen you would all drift away naturally, so there's really no point developing friendships if it won't last forever."

"You're wrong! Maybe one day we might all drift apart as you say, but the memories we created together aren't meaningless."

"Oh, I am? Then why don't I give you a hypothetical situation? Let's say you and everyone in your class were stuck inside the school, and the only way out is to murder each other. Would you do it?"

"Of course not."

Monaca shrugged her shoulders. "You wouldn't, but I bet your friends will. I have a pretty good guess on who'll be survivors, but you won't definitely be one if you keep up with the whole friendship act. Your friends will only need one good motive and they'll turn on you and each other like a pack of wild animals."

"I think my friends have a lot more self-control than you think," he replied. "My friends may have lost their temper today because of you, but in a situation like yours, I doubt we would go that far. The bonds between us aren't so fragile that we would immediately start killing each other. If all of us worked together, we can overcome that impossible situation."

Monaca merely let out a yawn. "I think I forgot to mention that killing is the only way to get out, but whatever. I'm only trying to help you Makoto, but if you want to keep on deluding yourself then I guess you're a lost cause."

He doubted that she really was looking out for his interests. The conversation gave him some more insight into Monaca's character and well…

He could say for sure that her mindset was quite frightening. Were all kids at her age like this, or was it just her in particular?

"Oh, I almost forgot. Tomorrow you'll take me to the shops, so rest well," Monaca said.

He let out a groan.

And thus ended the day of the failed Hope Peak's event, an event that was entirely ruined by a little girl in a wheelchair. For the umpteenth time in his life, he wondered what he had done wrong in his life to be saddled with Monaca.

He did not conclude the day with a smile, but with a frown and a headache.


	4. Chapter 4

Monaca Towa bonds with Makoto Naegi!

"Hey… wake up…"

"Ugh… Just another minute…" he responded, not wanting to get out of bed.

"I! Said! Get! Up!" Something hard hit the back of his head; the pain enough for him to leap out of bed.

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

"You weren't getting up, so I thought a little pain should do it," Monaca answered, and gave one of her trademark little smiles to him. It didn't make him feel any better.

"Get changed. Today you'll be taking me to the shops, or did you forget about that Makoto?" Monaca let out a giggle. "It's okay though; I'll be happy to give you a friendly reminder every time you forget anything that I asked."

He sighed. This was his life now huh… He's taking orders from a handicapped girl that's in elementary school, and he couldn't do a thing about it.

What did he do wrong in life to deserve this…?

* * *

"Can't you be any faster?"

He was still trying to untie his shoes when Monaca asked that for the fiftieth time today. His mental health hadn't fully recovered from the events yesterday, and her constant pestering wasn't doing him any favours.

"I'm working as fast as I can Monaca," he replied, his hands working hard in untying his shoelaces out of their tangled mess. He was one hundred percent certain he untied them yesterday, so how did they even become like this!?

… Actually, he had a pretty good guess on how they became this way.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have tied your shoelaces like that Makoto," Monaca said. "I've been waiting for you for five minutes. I might have to punish you if you take another minute."

As always she flashed him with a fake smile. He went into overdrive; his hands untangling the shoelaces in mere seconds. Now she looked a bit displeased.

"You see, that's better. Looks like Big Bro needed just a little bit of motivation to work better."

He finished placing on his shoes and tied them up in the proper way. They still felt a bit loose though, maybe he should have been a bit gentler when untying.

He stood up and turned around to shout, "We're going out now!"

"Okay!" his mum called out from the living room. "Make sure to have fun you two!"

Oh, he doubted he would have any fun.

He exited the house with Monaca. She commanded him to push her wheelchair for the rest of the day since that's "what a slave is for!", as she delightfully said to his face.

There's really no break for him huh. He kept pushing Monaca's wheelchair all the way to the train station. He just hoped she wouldn't make him spend too much money…

Neither of the two felt the need to talk to the other; their trip to the train station was mostly silent apart from the rumbling in his stomach. He hadn't had the time to properly eat thanks to being rushed to the door by Monaca, so he's feeling a bit fatigued trying to push her wheelchair. If there was one silver lining, he at least wasn't forced to eat dried mackerel.

They reached the train station and boarded a train, and he noted that the carriage they were on was empty. Despite this, the two went to opposite ends of the carriage. He was on the left of the carriage, taking a rest on a seat as he stared out of a nearby window. Monaca, meanwhile, was on the right, looking at her phone without giving him a second glance.

…

He couldn't help but feel a little awkward. Even though Monaca was his adopted sister, was this how siblings interacted with each other? When he's with Komaru they would talk about all sorts of things ranging from school to the latest pop culture.

But not with Monaca. Most of their interactions would consist of her ordering him around to do stuff for her, or him trying to lecture her on why she couldn't just do whatever she wanted. Even before she revealed her true colours she never talked much about herself. An example he could remember was when Komaru asked her who her favourite band was, and she responded with "why Sayaka of course." When he asked her the same question she would say "whatever's popular of course."

Everything about her was covered in lies, and he wondered sometimes if her personality right now was her true self or just another facade.

In an attempt to break the ice he tried to start a conversation with her.

"Monaca?"

"What do you want Makoto?" Monaca said, not looking away from her phone to face him.

"Ummm… do you have anything specific you want to buy?"

"No."

"Okay then."

"…"

"…"

"… Are you talking to your friends?"

Monaca finally looked up at him. "Why are you asking me sooo many questions today Makoto? Are you trying to trick me or something?"

"What? No," he said. "I just wanted to have a conversation with you."

"Big Bro wants to talk to _Monaca?_ Now she definitely knows something is up. You're just trying to find out her weaknesses, aren't you? I'm sorry, but Monaca has no weaknesses."

"For the last time, I'm not tricking you or anything. I'm actually trying to learn more about you so we can at least become friends."

"You want us to become friends? Are you delusional? Why would Monaca want to become friends with you, the most boring, _booooring_ person she has ever met? This is why you're in this situation Big Bro; you have too big of a heart to take the most logical course of action."

"Okay, then what is the logical course of action?"

"Well, for starters you should have hit Monaca when she first pranked Komaru. Then if Monaca kept on being a bad girl Big Bro should keep on hitting her until she learns her lesson."

To say that he was horrified at what she was proposing would be an understatement. Monaca ignored the shocked look on his face to continue on rambling, "Hmmm, but on second thought, I don't think you're strong enough to leave any bruises on me. But don't worry; there are other ways you can teach Monaca. You can cut Monaca with a knife, throw her off her wheelchair, hit her with a bat, lock her in the closet, starve her, or make her listen to long talks about friendship!"

"Monaca, I'm not the sort of person to use violence as a solution! Even though you've been causing nothing but trouble for me lately, I don't think even someone like you deserves it."

Monaca rolled her eyes. "I think the correct term is discipline, but I think you'll change your tune soon enough. Even someone like you has a snapping point. Don't tell you never even thought of hitting me, not even once?"

He could only remain silent. Yes, sometimes little thoughts like that would pop up, but he'd always shake them away from his mind.

She grinned at him. "Oh my, I never would have thought my kind-hearted Big Bro has actually thought of hurting me. Monaca recommends that you should take several deep breaths if you're angry; it does wonders for your stress."

"Monaca, is there really no way we can ever be friends?"

"Nope, not in a gazillion years! Now if that's all, please be quiet so Monaca can read in peace."

Monaca returned to looking at her phone, while he looked out the window once more. Should he even keep trying to get close to her? She was making no such attempts to even try to act friendly, and her negativity was wearing him down each day.

But he resolved himself to keep at it. How many times had he thought it was impossible for him to get along with Byakuya? Or even with Toko? And yet he succeeded, and that was enough to give him hope that eventually, Monaca would be able to become his friend.

"Hey Makoto, have you ever seen someone explode?"

… He really, really hoped that he was right.

… Maybe he should get her to see a therapist…

* * *

The duo finally arrived at their destination, a large shopping district. he had to manoeuvre Monaca around to avoid the crowds of people in their way.

"Where do you want to go Monaca?" he asked. He looked around at the various stores in the district. "There's a book store, a toy store, a game store…"

"I want to go in there." She pointed at an electronics store.

"An electronics store? I didn't know you had an interest in technology Monaca."

"It's because Monaca has a high intellect Makoto, which allows her to think of lots of ways to create all sorts of cool stuff. It's quite a shame that you aren't as smart as me."

Ouch. Did she really have to insult his intelligence? But this was good progress; Monaca had an interest that didn't involve the suffering of others.

They entered the store. He watched as the girl searched around, looking through every tray and examining every single circuit within.

This might be a good time to have another conversation with her. Unlike their last conversation, he at least had a topic that might catch her interest.

He thought long and hard for anything related to technology to use as an appropriate conversation starter, and when he finally thought of the perfect one he initiated the conversation.

"So Monaca, what do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I don't know," she replied. Her back was turned to him as she examined the long piece of metal in her hands. "Why are you asking?"

"Well, since you have an interest in technology, why don't you think of working for the Towa Group?"

SNAP!

He swerved his head around. He could have sworn he heard a loud snap near him.

Monaca placed the two pieces of metal in her hand back into the tray she took it from and turned to face him with a bright expression.

"Oh? The Towa Group? I don't think I've ever heard about them before. Please tell me allll about them Makoto."

He zipped up his jacket. Was it just him, or was the room getting a bit cold now?

"Umm, well, the Towa Group is one of the biggest technology enterprises in the world."

"Well duh, of course they are," Monaca said. "Tell me something I don't know."

"I thought you said you never heard of them before?"

"I was joking. I know all about them of course. For example, I know that one of their current projects is building an enormous airship called The Excalibur. I heard that you could fit everyone in Towa city into it. Isn't that sooo amazing?"

"Yeah… it is." Monaca sounded happy, and yet he couldn't help but feel like he might have stepped on a landmine.

"And I also know alllll about the chairman of the group, and his only child of course. The son is next in line despite having done nothing at all to contribute to the company, but that's fine since he's family. Isn't it sooo nice that the chairman is a loving father, who would give his entire company to a person who has no useful skills to show whatsoever?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Of course it is! It's a good thing he's an only child, since he wouldn't have to compete with a sibling who's far superior to him in every way. Not that there is another sibling of course, since there's no way the father can be such a selfish, cowardly, pathetic human being who'll abandon one of his children, don't you think?"

Okay, he definitely touched on a sensitive topic for Monaca. Why was she getting so aggressive at the Towa Group?

Monaca clasped her hands onto her lap and stared at him. This time, there wasn't a smile at all on her face. "I think I've talked enough about my feelings for the Towa Group today, but if you want I can keep going."

"N-No, I think you've made your point."

"Then get me out of here; I'm done looking."

He wheeled Monaca out of the store. She was smiling now, but he could tell that she was in a very bad mood. This was probably the most disastrous conversation he ever had with someone.

Now that's twice he failed to have a decent conversation with her. He needed the next topic to be something she liked or else she'd most certainly do one of her punishments at home. Maybe he should talk abo—

"Hey, Makoto!"

A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts, and the duo turned around to see a figure running up to them.

"Hey, Hina!" he greeted when she got close. "Nice to see you again!"

"You too!" Aoi gave him a smile. That smile, however, faltered a bit when she looked at the figure with him.

"And you're with… Monaca…"

Monaca smiled back at Aoi. "I'm sorry, who are you again?"

"Uh, we met yesterday, at the school festival?"

Monaca placed a finger under her chin. "Nope," she said. "Monaca can't remember someone like you."

"Well… I guess I'll introduce myself again. I'm Aoi Asahina, nice to meet you again Monaca!" She held out her hand for a handshake.

Monaca shook her hand. "Nice to meet you too doughnut girl." The last part earned a frown from him and Aoi.

"Monaca! Please call Hina by her real name and not with a nickname!"

"Yeah!" Aoi said. "Besides, doughnuts aren't my entire character! I mean I have other interests too, like swimming, so an appropriate nickname would be something like 'doughnut girl who also loves swimming.'"

"I think you're missing the point Hina…"

"Anyways, are you guys doing anything at the moment?"

"We just came out of the electronics store," he answered. "Why?"

"Since we're here… why don't we all go out and eat some doughnuts?"

"Well…" He looked at Monaca for her approval. She gave him a shrug.

"Why not," she said. "Monaca is pretty hungry anyway."

"Then that settles it! I know a great store outside of the mall that sells the best doughnuts. Follow me!" She marched ahead with the duo following suit behind her.

* * *

"Here we are!" Aoi declared. "The best doughnut store in the world!"

"Doesn't really look like it though…" Monaca whispered to him. "Look at the sign; it's going to fall off any moment now."

He had to agree with her about the sign. The sign, which was shaped like a doughnut, was shaking a lot. All it would take for the sign to topple over would be a slight bit of force. But apart from that, the store looked great; it reminded him of a luxury cafe.

There was a line when the trio entered the store. The line was long, so Aoi suggested that they find a table while she ordered the food.

"You guys decided on what to order?" Aoi asked.

He found it hard to choose since all the doughnuts at the counter looked delicious. "I'll have… A jelly-filled doughnut. "

"Okay, what about you Monaca?"

"I'll have a bean doughnut," she said.

"Alright, then I'll have…" Aoi seemed to be thinking long and hard for what she wanted to order before saying, "You know what; I'll just order one of each doughnut."

He handed Aoi some money for their order before he and Monaca sat at an empty table. Like at the train, they both seated themselves on opposite ends of the table. He once again tried to start a conversation with her while they waited.

"Sooo… Are you enjoying yourself Monaca?"

"Not really." Monaca folded her arms and looked at him with a pout. "Monaca doesn't want to hang around with your friend."

"Hina is one of the nicest people I've ever met," he said. "I'm sure if you give her a chance she'll become your friend too."

Monaca scoffed. "I don't think I need any friends at the moment, but…maybe having someone else to play with wouldn't hurt…"

"What was that Monaca?"

"I'm saying that I think you're absolutely right Makoto," Monaca said. "Maybe I should be friends with her."

"I'm glad that you're trying to make more friends." He smiled at her. "But first, you have to apologise to her for your behaviour yesterday and today."

"Fine…"

Aoi came back carrying fifteen boxes in a pile. He was rather dumbfounded by this, and judging by her expression, so was Monaca.

Aoi placed the boxes on the table and plopped down next to him. "Sorry for the long wait you guys."

She grabbed the box at the top of the pile and placed it between them. She grabbed a doughnut from the box and took a bite out of it; her face lighting up as she chewed. "If you guys want any more I'll be happy to share!"

"She should be called the Ultimate Doughnut Eater," Monaca whispered to him.

"Monaca…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Monaca's expression changed. Before she looked at least a little cheerful, but now she looked as though someone had murdered her pet or something.

"Before we eat… Monaca wants to say that she's very sorry for calling you doughnut girl earlier (even if it's true), and for what happened yesterday at the school festival. Monaca knows that you might never be able to forgive her, and that's fine. But if you can find it in your heart to give someone like me a chance, I'll do whatever it takes to make up for it."

"Awww, I forgive you Monaca," Aoi said. It seemed her apology had worked.

"You do? Then can you be Monaca's friend?"

"Sure, I'll be your friend!"

Monaca glanced at him while he was eating his jelly doughnut. She nudged the table a bit; surprising him and causing some jelly to fall onto his jacket.

"Monaca!"

"Sorry Big Bro, Monaca just got a bit excited from making a new friend."

* * *

She watched as her slave excused himself to the bathroom. Now that he was out of the way it was time to extract some information from her new "friend."

"Since Big Bro is in the bathroom," she said, "why don't we get to know each other better? Don't be afraid to tell me anything embarrassing; Monaca is a very good secret keeper."

Unfortunately for her, an unexpected event would appear in the next minute.

* * *

Ever since that incident, Jutarou Akafuku had grown afraid of luck.

It was a double-edged sword that could make any plan—no matter how well it was crafted—be reduced to nothing. He had to learn this the hard way when he met that boy—a boy who had such absurd bad luck that it overpowered his own good luck. The incident made him gain a new perception of the world; at any moment in time, a person's life could come crashing down due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Of course, that didn't stop him from doing what he does best—being a thief. He had a hard time escaping his jail cell, but with a little bit of planning—and admittedly a little bit of luck—he managed.

He entered the doughnut store and sat down near an empty table. This would be the first time he'd be pulling a robbery in such an indiscreet way. It wasn't his usual style to pull off such an act; he would've preferred to steal with a bit more craft from his targets.

Of course, he also knew the various risks involved in such an act. For one thing, this wasn't a job given to him; he had planned this knowing that his reward would most likely be a pitiful amount of change. Secondly, he was still on the run, so the risk of someone recognising him here was another risk. And thirdly—

—He let out a small cough. He had this damn cough that came out of nowhere.

The odds were stacked against him, and yet he felt more confident than ever. Prior to this he had looked at a map of the area around the store, memorised the timetables of the public transport near here, and formulated several routes for his escape. Of course, if public transport wasn't an option he had stored several getaway vehicles nearby as a safety net. Right now he was dressed as a businessman, and no one was paying him any mind. Once he had the money he'd replace his clothes with another disguise stashed close by to throw off any pursuers.

He had done everything within his power to ensure the maximum amount of success possible for this to work, all because his pride had been severely damaged by some brat. If his plan went smoothly, it would prove to him once more that a well-made plan trumped luck. He would regain his confidence, and he could finally move on from that traumatic event.

He looked around his surroundings. There were only a few people around—mostly teenagers and families—and none of them looked like they could pose a problem to him. Still, looks could be deceiving as he had learned; one of them could be proficient in martial arts.

He needed someone that he was sure would not fight back against him, and only one particular person sitting close by fit what he needed. A handicapped girl that he guessed was around ten or eleven years old was chatting away with a teenager.

The perfect person to be his hostage. He felt around his jacket pocket until he came into contact with his army knife. He got up from his table and approached the duo. The teenager and the little girl didn't give him any attention until he was standing over his soon to be captive.

"Ummm, can Monaca help you?" the little girl asked.

His response was to grab her hair and press a knife to her neck.

* * *

He was rinsing his jacket in the bathroom with a solemn expression. The stain was not coming off no matter how much he rubbed at it with his hands. He hung his head down in sadness.

"It was my favourite jacket too…" he muttered. Actually, he had plenty of replicas of this exact jacket back in his closet, but it still hurt all the same.

He heard a scream coming from outside the bathroom. "That scream, it sounded like Monaca!" He would have burst through the bathroom door if he hadn't forced himself to stop.

"I can't just rush outside recklessly; I should at least take a peek to see what's happening."

He opened the bathroom door just a little and peered outside. There was a man with a knife at the counter, and the person struggling in his arms was Monaca. She had a pained expression—most likely due to how hard the man was pulling her hair—but most of all she looked terrified.

Crap! he needed to help her! He was about to come charging out of the bathroom, but a sudden thought stopped him.

Why should he help her anyway? All she ever did was cause trouble for him and everyone he cared about. Heck, she's even blackmailing him! She deserved this!

…

…

No, he didn't believe that. He might just be too kind for his own good, but no matter how bad Monaca had been on his life he wouldn't abandon her when she needed his help.

Now, what was he supposed to do? The robber kept moving his head around the store, so sneaking up on him was unlikely. But if he waited too long there was a chance the robber would take Monaca with him, and who knew what would happen to her.

He spotted a bag on top of the counter; a large amount of money was being deposited into it by the people at the front.

He thought of an idea. It was risky, and he didn't know if he could be fast enough, but it was worth a shot. The robber was only a few metres away from the bathroom door. He'd wait until the man reached for the bag, and charge at him from the side.

He held his breath, waiting for the right moment to come bursting out of the door the second the robber reached for the bag.

The robber coughed a bit and reached out for the bag. He came charging out of the door right at him…

… Only for disaster to happen right at that moment, as his shoelaces came undone as he was running and he slipped. The robber stepped to the left, and he crashed into an empty table.

He could see several spectators watching him wincing at the sound of the collision. He wouldn't be surprised if the whole store shook from his crash.

His last vision before he fell unconscious was of Monaca looking at him with surprise.

* * *

He stared at the crumpled mess of the teenager. Everything was going so smoothly in his plan that of course something unexpected had to happen. But it was a good thing the boy slipped, or else he would have been in trouble. Then again, it was his fault for not checking the bathroom before he started his robbery (not that he would admit it).

He grabbed the bag on the counter. The bag was heavy, and he almost made a fool of himself lifting it off the counter. It was his lucky day today that a doughnut store such as this had so much money in its register. Maybe he'd rob some doughnut stores once things quiet down.

Now that he had the money all that's left was to walk right out of the store along with the little girl in his hand. He'd keep her as a hostage just until he was a safe distance away from the scene of the crime, and then he'd drop her off somewhere where she would be safe until the police find her. He wasn't that heartless to leave a handicapped girl in danger.

His hostage wasn't struggling anymore; she was staring at the unconscious boy with a curious look on her face. While he should have used this chance to just run off with the goods, He had to admit that he was also curious to know who was the idiot who almost threw a wrench into his plan.

He approached the boy, and once he got a good look at his face he immediately recognised who he was.

He dropped the girl and the bag and made a mad dash out of the store.

By a cruel twist of fate, He had met that boy once more. The boy who landed him in jail and wounded his pride was lying right in front of him unconscious, but he knew better. He didn't give a damn about the money anymore; misfortune surrounded this boy, and he did not _want_ to be around him when things went to shit.

But it was already too late. If he had fled without trying to find out the identity of the boy there might have been a chance he could have gotten away scot-free. But fate wasn't so kind to him.

The second he stepped outside the door the sign on top fell down, slamming him into the pavement.

He really should have changed jobs…

* * *

"Ma-Makoto!"

The first thing he saw upon waking up was several paramedics circled around him, and Aoi looking down at him with a relieved look. "You're finally awake!"

With some help from her, he got back up on his feet. Not even a second later she hugged him; the pressure from it was almost enough to send him right back to being unconscious.

"H-Hina," He wheezed out. "I can't breathe…"

She let go of him. "I was so worried that you might've not woken up at all; you slammed pretty hard into that table…" She gestured to the shattered remains around him.

He cringed at the memory of his failed rescue attempt. Humiliating himself in public was a lot more painful to him than crashing into a table at full force.

"Excuse me miss," one of the paramedics asked. "If you don't mind we would like to check up on your friend."

"Oh, okay. I'll just be right outside Makoto."

"Alright." He thought he felt perfectly fine, aside from this constant headache and his whole body feeling like he got hit by a truck. More importantly, he wanted to ask Aoi something before she left.

"Where's Monaca?"

"She's outside with the police and other paramedics. That poor girl, she must be so traumatised by what happened… if I hadn't suggested we eat here this mi—"

"This wasn't your fault Hina," he interrupted. "It was just bad luck that's all."

She chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. It's a bit funny that something like this happened to the Ultimate Lucky Student."

"Unfortunately, I think my luck is more of a curse than a blessing these days."

The paramedics around them were becoming impatient. Aoi said a quick goodbye and went outside, leaving him alone to be examined by the paramedics.

* * *

He and Monaca were on opposite ends of the carriage, returning home after saying goodbye to Aoi. Despite having a knife pressed to her neck a few moments ago, Monaca was busy playing on her phone with a smile on her face.

"Monaca, are you _sure_ you're alright?" he asked her for the fiftieth time today.

"For the last time Makoto yes, Monaca is alright," she replied. "Besides, this was probably the most exciting thing to have happened this week!"

"You were excited to be taken hostage? But you looked so terrified when you were being held!"

"I was just acting that's all. It would be weird if I didn't even try to act scared at such a situation. That robber pulled so hard on Monaca's hair, but in exchange, she did get to see Big Bro fail spectacularly in his rescue attempt."

Did she really have to poke fun at him for that? It wasn't his fault that his shoelaces came untied at that moment.

"Also, if you think that I'm going to change my attitude because of today, then you're wrong."

"Huh?"

"Did you really think that rescue act will make Monaca become so nice to you? Sorry Makoto, you're still my slave, whether you like it or not."

"I didn't try to rescue you because I wanted you to be nice to me."

"Then why?"

"It's because you looked like you needed help. That's why I tried to rescue you."

Monaca took her eyes off her phone and looked at him, a frown on her face. "Because I needed help? You rescued me because of that?"

"Yeah. Even though you've caused a lot of trouble for me and my friends, you're still my little sister. I won't abandon you when you're in trouble."

"… You're weird."

He chuckled at that. "I'm weird? I think I'm a pretty average and boring teenager."

"Nope, you're definitely weird. You should let a doctor check your head." Monaca looked back at her phone. He returned to staring aimlessly out the window.

For the rest of the day, Monaca left him alone.

* * *

He could hear Monaca coughing from the other side. He took a tiny peek through the gap of the open door.

Monaca blew her nose on the tissue, coughing all the while as she looked outside the window of her room. She had caught the flu the next day after yesterday's events, most likely because of that robber. She'd have to spend a few days confined to her bed.

Monaca crumpled the tissue and threw it at the bin near to her. It landed on top of the growing mountain of used tissues coming out of the bin.

"This sucks!" Monaca shouted. "I knew I shouldn't have agreed to come eat some stupid doughnuts! They weren't even that good anyway…

"… Okay maybe they were a bit delicious, but it still wasn't worth it if I have to get sick!"

He entered the room with a bowl of soup. "Do you feel better Monaca?"

"Why of course I feel _better _Makoto," Monaca answered. "In fact, I have so much energy right now I could leap right out of bed."

He grabbed a chair and sat down next to her. He spooned up a piece of soup and blew on it a bit. When he tried to feed it to her, she shook her head.

"It's good for you Monaca," he insisted.

"It looks disgusting!" Monaca closed her mouth when he brought the spoon near it.

"It's good, I promise!" He tried once more to feed it to her. Once again she wouldn't budge.

"Why are you doing this anyway? I didn't ask you to feed me this soup, or maybe you're trying to poison me? I bet you enjoy seeing Monaca look so miserable and pathe—"

Monaca started coughing, her hands grabbing several tissues to wipe away the snot coming from her nose.

"I'm not trying to poison you," He said after her coughing fit calmed down. "And I'm not enjoying the fact that you're ill. I want you to get better as soon as possible."

"I don't get you. If I get better that means you're just going to be ordered around by me again. Are you saying you're actually okay with that?"

He paused for a bit. If she got better she would go right back to her old ways. Would he still try to help even while knowing that?

"Yeah," he replied.

Monaca stared at him, her expression unreadable. Begrudgingly, Monaca opened her mouth, allowing him to feed her.

"I'll admit… it tastes good…" she whispered.

He smiled. He scooped up another piece of soup. It may have been his imagination…

But just for this one moment, he felt that he and Monaca bonded just a tiny bit.


	5. Chapter 5

Monaca Towa goes through her daily life.

Geez, why was class so boring…

My eyes scanned the classroom to find some sort of entertainment, but it was futile. On my right, there were two windows that showed the outside of the classroom, where the gate of the school could be seen. On my left, two windows that showed the hallway and the neighbouring class, the students in there looking ready to fall asleep. Either way, there was nothing of interest for me to look at.

I focused my attention back to the teacher. She was explaining a somewhat difficult math question to everyone. Not that it mattered to me since I was obviously the smartest person in the room.

Honestly, why was I forced to attend elementary school? The principal of Hope's peak was sooo stupid. I should have been in the Main Course while all these los—

"Monaca, why don't you answer this question?" a voice rang out. Oopsie, looks like I got caught spacing out.

"But teacher, Monaca doesn't understand such a hard question," I lied. "Maybe Nagisa can answer it."

"Fine then, but please don't lose your focus in class Monaca."

"Yes, teacher."

The teacher turned her attention to the blue-haired boy. "Nagisa, can you answer this question?"

Well, of course he could. That boy's the Li'l Ultimate Social Studies after all. If he couldn't answer this question then his parents need to be better teachers.

The blue-haired boy stood up from his seat and answered the question. "Very good!" the teacher said. "As expected of our top student!"

I could see him beam up a little at being praised. It's really laughable how much he wanted to fulfil people's expectations of him. Nevertheless, I might as well give him some praise.

With as much enthusiasm as I could muster, I clapped for him. "Good job Nagisa!" I cheered.

"Uh, thanks Monaca…" he said, a faint blush on his face. I almost forgot that the blue-haired boy had a childish crush on me. Not that I minded since it made him easier to be influenced. Soon after I started clapping, the rest of his classmates joined in.

"Way to go Nagisa!" a pink-haired girl cheered. She's called Kotoko if I remembered right. Whenever she was around Monaca she would always praise her, but underneath all that flattery Monaca betted the girl actually disliked her. She's known as the Li'l Ultimate Drama, but to be honest with you, she's not a good actor. Also, she's scared of the word "gentle," which I made great use of from time to time.

"Good job Nagisa… not that you care about my praise…" a creepy boy in a mask muttered. He's called Jataro, and he's annoying. He's such a creep because he liked it whenever someone said something bad about him, and it's all because his mommy didn't love him enough. He always wore a mask, and if you asked me, it's probably because his face was realllly ugly.

"Hmph, I could have answered it too if the teacher asked me," a red-haired boy said. If I recalled correctly he's called Masaru, and he's the Li'l Ultimate P.E. He's so full of himself and would always boast whenever he got the chance, and yet at home, his daddy would beat him until he's blue all over. What a loser.

All of them were Monaca's "friends"; at least, that's what she called them. Monaca only hung out with them because they had such horrible lives, which made them very great toys for her.

"Pfft, your brain probably melted inside that head of yours," the pink-haired girl mocked.

"It did not!"

A familiar scene unfolded around me. The scenario was always the same: the drama queen and show-off would argue with each other, the overachiever would step in to stop it but fail all the time, the creep would try to speak up but nobody cared what he had to say, I'd stop the fight like the good little angel I was and everyone would laugh in good spirits. I sometimes wonder how I got stuck into the so-called "troublemaker" class, but I guess that the school needed me in this class to keep it under control.

"How long are you guys going to keep at this? It's childish to fight over a comment."

"She started it!"

"Did not!"

"Nagisa is right; you guys shouldn't get angry at each other. Although if you were angry at me I wouldn't mind at all…"

Well, that's my signal. It's time for me to follow the script like every other day…

How boring.

* * *

It had been five minutes after school had ended, and yet here I was still waiting in front of the school gate. I looked around for my slave and spotted him approaching from the left.

"You took too long to get here Makoto," I said to my slave, his breathing rough when he arrived. It appeared he had run as fast as he could to get here.

"Sorry Monaca, classes were a bit longer than usual today…"

I examined my slave from top to bottom. Makoto Naegi, my "big brother." Everything about him was painfully boring. Everything from his personality to his fashion sense was so generic; his talent should have been the Ultimate Generic Student.

However, he had piqued my curiosity a little. I had expected his spirit to break from everything I'd done to him, and yet he hadn't made a move against me.

Hmm, maybe I'd been too lenient on him. I'd only made him do menial tasks I couldn't be bothered with, like homework or cleaning my room. Sometimes I made him do something he disliked for laughs, like eating dried mackerel, but nothing too bad. It's not that I cared about him; it would simply be bad for me if my slave rebelled because I pushed him too far.

"Since you were late I'm going to have to punish you."

"What! But I was late for only one minute!"

"I don't care; it's still one minute too long." My slave sighed, a common sight that never failed to make me happy.

"Alright Monaca," he said, and gave me a little smile.

Seeing that smile irritated me so much I lost whatever satisfaction I had before. Why wasn't he broken yet?! Surely he had to be itching for revenge right now, but he's still acting so nice to me.

What was he planning? There must be some sort of ulterior motive for this. Was he planning to get the blackmail photos? Well, if he was then she's sorry to disappoint, but they were gone. She deleted them because frankly, they were too gross; her good reputation would be ruined if someone found them on her phone. There were no backups either; why would I entrust anything important to my toys?

Oh well. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Or in this case, it would.

"Hmph, your punishment just increased."

"But I didn't do anything!"

"You made Monaca mad, which is deserving of punishment."

My slave sighed again and began to push my wheelchair towards his home. While his hopeful attitude was annoying, I must admit that I get a lot of joy from tormenting him. Now then, I wonder what kind of punishment I should give him. Perhaps I should make him eat some dried mackerel…

Nah, I guess I'd make him do my homework. It shouldn't be too hard for him; he should be done in about four hours. That left me to enjoy the rest of this afternoon for myself.

I had the perfect life right now and yet…

I feel like something's missing from it, some very important thing that could truly make me the happiest little girl in the world…

Eh, it's probably nothing.

* * *

Geez, why was class so boooorrrring…

It's another day in school, which meant Monaca was stuck inside this classroom for half the day. The subject this time was once again maths. Honestly, I didn't understand what's so hard about calculus. It's basic maths that I could do blindfolded.

But all of this boring stuff was going to disappear! In just one more minute a most joyous sound would be heard, indicating the start of my second favourite period in school.

The sound of the school bell echoed in the classroom, signalling the end of the class.

Hooray, it's lunchtime! Lunchtime was Monaca's second favourite thing in school; the first being the homeroom period. Monaca's really popular in the classroom, so people would come to her to talk about anything. Whether that was dreams for the future, students in school they had a crush on, family issues, students they really hate, Monaca would always lend an ear. You never know when stuff like this could be used in the future.

But first off, it's time for lunch. The students who were serving the class dressed themselves up in the mandatory white sanitary outfit and cap along with a hygiene mask, leaving the classroom to deliver the food. The rest of us were tasked to rearrange our tables into groups.

Pushing tables was simply a waste of time for me, so with a bit of flattery, I managed to get a couple of students to do all the work for me. While they were busy, five table trolleys carrying the food had arrived in the classroom and were lined up at the front.

I managed to get a look at today's menu while watching all the students lining up to be served. The menu today was meatballs and miso soup. It's not my favourite, buuut I guess it wouldn't hurt if I get a bit more extra.

I waited until all the students were lined up first before I could enact my plan. I didn't want any pesky teacher pets telling on me to the teacher. When it finally came for me to be served, I placed a smile on my face before approaching the serving boy.

"Umm, can I have a bit more meatballs?" I asked the boy serving, with the most charming smile on my face.

"Sorry Monaca, the rules say students only get three," the boy replied.

"But we're friends aren't we? Can't you make an exception for me, pretty please?"

The boy shook his head. Hmph, Monaca was getting a little annoyed at the boy's resistance to her, but that's okay. She always came prepared when dealing with simple annoyances.

"If you give me extra, I might help you with your crush."

That definitely got his attention, as the boy made quick glances to his sides to ensure no one was listening before whispering, "Really?"

"Yep, I'll put in a good word for you," I said, my smile beaming with confidence. Now that he had taken the bait, all I had to do was reel it in. "I'll tell her what a kind, smart and generous person you are if you just do what I ask."

"You promise?"

"I promise!"

The boy had a big dumb smile on his face when I told him this. I wonder what kind of face he would make if he knew that the girl he was crushing on despised him. I would have felt bad if the situation wasn't so funny. Oh well. Monaca would fulfil her side of the deal, as she always kept her promises.

If it suited her of course.

"So, do we have a deal?" I asked the boy. After a few seconds of hesitation, the boy finally gave in to my demands. I gave him a slight nod of approval and a thank you before departing. I made deals to the other serving students as well and was rewarded with an extra bit of soup, vegetables and even another carton of milk. Feeling satisfied with my successful manipulation, I headed towards the table where my "friends" sat.

A red-haired boy at the table took notice of me as I approached. "You're finally here! What took you so long?"

"Sorry Masaru, I was just getting extra lunch," I told him as I arrived.

"What, no fair! How come I didn't get extra?!"

"Well first of all," a pink-haired girl interjected, "Monaca is totally adorbs while you're not."

"I don't need to be adorbs to receive extra," the red-haired boy replied. "My coolness is the only thing that matters."

"As if a perverted idiot like you could be cool."

And just like that the pink-haired girl and the red-haired boy began to argue. I ignored them and situated myself next to a blue-haired boy. The boy was ignoring the commotion happening in front of him, preferring to read the physics textbook in his hand. Such a diligent worker, his parents must be soooo proud.

I made myself comfortable at the table before I ate my lunch. My presence seemed to have caused the boy next to me some distress, as he would sneak a glance at me every minute as if I was blind.

How annoying. I decided to chat with the boy to get him to stop. "What're you reading there Nagisa?"

"Just some book my parents gave me," the boy replied. "They want me to get a perfect result on the next test."

"But you always get perfect scores. Honestly, your parents should give you a break."

My comment made the boy smile a bit. "Thanks Monaca, but I don't think my parents give a damn about my health."

"Since when have adults ever cared about us." Our conversation attracted the attention of the pink-haired girl; the mention of parents had stopped their annoying chatter. "The only things they care about are themselves."

"Kotoko's right for once," the red-haired boy piped in. "The only things adults do in this world are to hurt us kids when we don't do what they want!"

"Or wish that you were never born, even if it's a good reason…" a creepy boy in a mask muttered. Monaca had actually forgotten he was here the whole time that she almost flinched when he spoke.

The red-haired boy continued to talk as if he didn't hear the creepy boy. "I'm never ever gonna become a mean adult! I'm gonna become a hero to all kids around the world and fight against them all!"

The blue-haired boy let out a sigh before speaking, "Here you go again with all this hero nonsense. This isn't a game you know; a single kid can't fight against every single adult on this planet."

"Of course I know that! That's why I'm having you guys back me up!"

"Oh brother, I think Masaru's brain had actually melted," the pink-haired girl said. "Oh Lord, please grant us a miracle and unmelt Masaru's brain!"

"My brain is perfectly fine!" the red-haired boy spoke back, slumping down in his seat. "But you're right… As if kids like us have a means to fight back against adults."

The red-haired boy had a gloomy look on his face, and an awkward silence hung in the air. Not that I mind though; I like it when I could have some peace and quiet. The silence, however, seemed to have an effect on the blue-haired boy. Before long he added, "If such a means does exist… then I guess you would need me to help steer you the right way."

This cheered up the red-haired boy somewhat. "Really Nagisa? You really mean that?"

"Of course I do. Besides, I doubt you would go far without me anyway."

"As if I need any help from you!" Despite saying that, the red-haired boy seemed to be happy that the blue-haired boy cared. Now sounding like his usual annoying self, he said, "But I guess having someone like you would make things easier. After all, every great hero needs a wise sage to back him up."

"Looks like now he's back to his old self again. Even though he's a hero just because he won at rock-paper-scissors," the pink-haired girl said. "And don't forget that you have the help of this totally adorbs fighter!"

"And the help of the priest too… If you actually want me in the group," the creepy boy in the mask muttered.

"And Monaca will be your helpful mage!" I said. "With our combined strength, we can overcome any obstacle! The Warriors of Hope will fight against the tyranny of adults, and provide a hopeful future to kids around the world!"

I really didn't mean that though, as if a couple of kids could change the world. Even saying such a thing made me sooo ill I almost barfed.

But I could understand why they wish for such a foolish dream. They were raised by possibly the worst adults in the whole wide world. To ignore their hopeless situation they'd delude themselves with hope; that a miracle would whisk them away to some paradise on Earth. Even Monaca used to think like that once upon a time.

But reality was so cruel; no knight in shining armour would ever come and rescue them from their fates. In the real world, you had to be ruthless to get what you want, or else you'd be used, to be thrown away like trash when you become worthless. I wouldn't let such a fate happen to me again.

I surveyed the people around the table, now discussing what they would do if they had the power to change the world. If they had only realised that I was using them, then I would have felt some iota of pity. Oh well, I didn't feel bad for using them. They would do the same to me too if given the chance.

After all, nobody was ever truly good in the world. People do kind acts only to stroke their own ego, or if they had something to gain from it. That's why Monaca could happily trample down anyone she pleases with no regrets; it's only natural.

Buuuut, if there were truly selfless people in the world, people who were truly good to the core well…

I would like to meet them.

* * *

"How was your day at school Monaca?"

My adoptive father asked me this question just as I was about to take a bite out of my dinner. Couldn't he have asked me at a better time?

"Today was a fun day for Monaca! She got to eat lots of delicious food today and talk lots and lots with her friends!" I replied with a smile.

"Well, that's good to hear. What about you two?"

"Eh, today was perfectly ordinary for me," my adoptive sister replied. "Well except for when the P.E teacher got arrested. But anyway, I bet Makoto has some interesting stories today as usual."

"Well not exactly…" my slave said. "That is unless you want to listen to how Yasuhiro got stabbed by Hifumi."

"Um, why exactly did he get stabbed?" my adoptive mother questioned.

"It's a long story."

"Well, I guess you should cut to the chase and get straight to the point of the story Big Bro!" I joked.

Despite how awful my pun was, and how maybe it was a biiiit inappropriate to joke about my slave's friend getting stabbed, chuckles could be heard from the various members around the table. Even my slave chuckled at that bad pun, which surprised me.

Now, Monaca said that there was no such thing as truly selfless people and that everyone looked out for themselves. But…

The Naegi family might juuuust be a bit close to being those people.

The attitude they have towards me was sooo strange. When I said a joke it never failed in making the room laugh. When I smiled they would say I look adorable. They're so kind it's almost unbelievable.

Of course, there had to be some ulterior motive behind all this. She had first assumed the parents adopted Monaca because they had no kids, and so wanted her to fulfil that sad pathetic void in their lives. But as it turned out, they already had two kids.

So then I thought they wanted me to replace their kids because the son and daughter were both failures in life, buuuut that also turned out to be wrong. The daughter was doing okay in school while the son was in one of the most prestigious schools in the whole of Japan.

Maybe the whole family were a group of abusers, perfect on the outside but ugly on the inside. Nope. There were no beatings, no creepy mask, no IVs and no "acting." They treated Monaca as if she were their own child. Even after testing their patience by pulling a few pranks here and there my punishment was only a mild scolding and a few chores to do.

No family could possibly be this perfect, and yet I had not found any sort of flaws in this family. The father and mother weren't cheating, no one was smoking or drinking, and no one jaywalked on the street!

So! What! Gives! Why did they adopt me when their life's so perfect!?

There was another possible reason for this. Maybe, just maybe, they took me in because they felt sorry for me.

…

Kya kya kya kyaaan! What a splendid joke! I should be the Li'l Ultimate Jokester for coming up with that. Such a reason was ridiculous that I immediately discarded it when it popped up in my head.

Eventually, Monaca's big brain thought up of the perfect reason why the family adopted her. It was obvious once she ran through the events that led to her adoption.

* * *

Once upon a time, there was a young girl who lived in an orphanage.

She was the smartest, funniest and of course the cutest kid in the world, and yet her dumb family had abandoned her as a baby. They most likely abandoned her because they were jealous of her, and because they were really stupid.

Despite being abandoned by her stupid, _stupid_ family, she still grew up to become a well-adjusted child in society. It was a big achievement, for the orphanage she grew up in was… less than stellar.

For you see, the orphanage she grew up in was Hope's Peak Orphanage. To the public eye, the orphanage here was the perfect place any orphan could be in, a place with limitless access to any educational tool around the world thanks to funds from the Steering Committee. There's even a chance to be a student at Hope's Peak Elementary School, provided you are smart enough to pass their tests.

Of course on the inside, it was faaaaar from perfect. The orphans here were treated as nothing more than test subjects. Orphans who failed to pass the tests to enter Hope's Peak Elementary School were cast aside by the staff, given only the minimal amount of food and care to ensure they survived. Even passing the tests wasn't better, as more tests would be given until you trip up and join the rest of the failures.

The girl had watched many orphans try to convince prospective adopters about their situation, only to lose their chance at adoption in the ensuring damage control by the staff. They would then be subjected to punishment, not too harsh that the bruises couldn't be hidden, but just enough that they wouldn't try it again.

She held no sympathy for them. Why would she anyway? They were a bunch of idiots if they really thought their word would beat the reputation of an orphanage with years of good publicity.

The only way to successfully escape from this place was to suck it up and endure it. Not that the staff would make it any easy for you. The staff would make you undergo "special training," physical or otherwise, to ensure you didn't spill the beans on them once you're out. Adopters who try to adopt an untrained child would be given many convincing reasons on how the child was "unruly," that they were unready for adoption for now, and be directed to orphans who were trained enough by the staff.

Now for the girl, her situation at the orphanage was a bit of a special case. The carers of the orphanage seemed to all universally despise her no matter how much she obediently followed their orders, as if her very existence was an insult to them. They would intentionally sabotage any attempts of her being adopted and would give her more "special training" out of any orphan.

The other orphans treated her no better. They would mock her with childish insults, steal her stuff when she wasn't looking, and spelt her name as "Monaka" instead of "Monaca."

Everybody in the orphanage was against the poor girl, but don't you worry, the girl remained as positive as a photon! For there was one place she could go where no one would harass her, the dumpsters.

Yeah, it wasn't the nicest place for me to be at, but I had to make do okay.

Anyways, the dumpsters were the only place where the girl's creativity could run wild. Her days would be spent building crude inventions from the trash, drawing them in her diary, and thinking of the applicable ways they could ruin a person's life.

Yep! She was definitely happy by herself with her works of art. She obviously didn't care if the carers scolded her and the orphans mocked her for smelling like garbage. She knew she was better than everyone in her heart, so she didn't need any worthless friends.

And yet, the girl sometimes took a detour from the dumpsters to stare outside the orphanage gate. She would look at the houses, at the families that gave her a look of pity when they spot her staring, and watch them go about their daily lives. She would look at their children, and wonder if had her idiotic family kept her, would she be like them, so happy and normal?

Not that she did this out of loneliness, of course, that would be dumb. This was merely her clever plan to guilt-trip parents into adopting her, and that's the truth.

And boy was she glad she kept doing it! For on one of those days where the girl would stare outside the orphanage gate (again not of loneliness), a miracle happened.

By a stroke of luck, her future adoptive father and mother were standing near the gate, holding shopping bags and talking so sweetly to each other it was sickening.

On that beautiful sunny day, the parents noticed the girl staring at them from the gate. The mother approached her out of curiosity. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

"Monaca was going to play a game," she lied with a smile. "She's going to count the number of times someone litters out on the street!"

"Oh… Well, that's certainly an interesting game. I take it your name is Monaca?"

"Yep, Monaca is Monaca!"

"Why don't you play with the other kids Monaca?"

"Believe it or not, Monaca is a student at Hope's Peak Elementary School despite her circumstances. The other kids leave me alone so I can study hard for school. She doesn't mind though, really."

Even though the lie flowed out flawlessly from the girl's mouth the mother didn't look convinced at all. "Doesn't that make you feel lonely at all?" she said.

The girl felt flustered at the mother. Why was this random stranger so concerned about her? Her true feelings were perfectly hidden beneath her cheerful facade, so why was she still questioning her?

"I'm fine really," the girl said, her growing annoyance at the woman's pestering hidden behind a cheery tone. "Monaca really, _really_ loves staying at the orphanage, so don't worry about a thing."

"Is that so?" The mother kept standing there behind the gate, watching her with that look of pity she had seen so many times. The girl was getting impatient; she wanted them gone as fast as possible before one of the carers spotted her at the gate.

"Would you like us to adopt you Monaca?" the mother said.

And with those words, the girl's thoughts came to a halt. Did she hear what the woman said correctly?

The girl regained her composure. "No, it's okay. Monaca is fine to stay a little while in the orphanage."

"Are you sure? My husband and I would be happy to adopt you," the mother said, gesturing to her husband who smiled at the girl. "To be honest… We were thinking of adopting you for a while."

That last part got the girl's attention, but before she could ask any questions…

"May I help you?" a carer behind her said. The girl cursed in her mind; one of the orphans must have notified the staff about the conversation here.

"We're looking to adopt Monaca here," the father replied.

"Oh. Well if that's the case allow me to help you." The staff member opened the gate to allow them in. "Please come this way."

The parents and the girl were led towards the main office of the orphanage. While the staff member was all smiles towards the family along the way as they talked, there were a few dirty looks towards the girl when the family's attention was diverted elsewhere.

It's beginning to look more likely to the girl that she'd be receiving "special training" regardless of any explanation she provided. Oh well, it's not like they could do much to her anyway. A couple of months ago during her training, she tricked her carers into thinking they had broken her legs. Not wanting this incident to get out, and because of budget cuts, they'd just put her on a wheelchair and called it a day.

The bad news was that the girl would have to act crippled for the rest of her life…

But the good news was for the lucky family that adopted her; they would get free access to the disabled parking! So overall it's a win-win situation for the girl and her future adoptive parents.

A few minutes of navigating through the school led them to the main door of the main office. A soft "come in" was heard inside, signalling the staff member to open the door and usher them in before closing it.

"How may I help you today?" the director of the orphanage greeted, sitting behind a desk with her hands clasped in front of her. She was a tall, slender woman with glasses, who whenever the girl saw would always wear a suit no matter what the weather is. The girl gave her the nickname "Miss Jellyfish"; not because she had no brain, but because of the amount of crap the woman spewed out daily.

"We're here to adopt Monaca," the mother replied.

"Oh, is that so?" Miss Jellyfish gave a small smile towards the girl, but "appearances can be deceiving" as the saying goes.

"Please, have a seat."

The parents sat themselves down in the seats facing Miss Jellyfish, while the girl hung around near the back of the parents. The girl didn't have any hope that she would be adopted this time, especially since this was the sixtieth time this scenario happened.

"Have you had any experience in adopting a child?" Miss Jellyfish asked.

"No, but we have done all the necessary prerequisites," the mother answered. "We've done the necessary paperwork and training, and our house has been checked and approved by members of your staff."

The mother handed in some paperwork for Miss Jellyfish to look at. The girl was a bit impressed at how prepared they are. She felt even a teensy bit hopeful things would work out.

"I see," Miss Jellyfish said, flipping through the papers one by one without a second glance. "I guess there's nothing else but for you to take Monaca to her new home."

And so the parents took the girl to her new home and they lived happily ever after!

"However, I would not recommend adopting her for now."

Well, not right now.

"What do you mean?" the father questioned.

"While Monaca here may seem to be innocent, she has exhibited some… troublesome behaviour in the past," Miss Jellyfish lied.

"What kind of behaviour?"

"Just last week, her presence around the other kids had caused several cases of fighting to occur. When asked by the staff all of the kids said that Monaca had directed insults towards them."

Now that wasn't alllll true. They were the ones who started it first; it wasn't her fault that they started crying when she said their parents were waiting outside.

"Not only that, she is a notorious liar and is known to steal from the other kids."

Actually they stole her things first, so she was merely taking back what's hers. She might have also "borrowed" several more items from them, but hey, it's a dog eat dog world.

"She also burned down a dorm."

… Okay, I had nothing for that one.

"That is quite troubling…" the father said, looking at his wife with concern.

The girl's itsy-bitsy hope vanished. Once parents had heard about her unsavoury attributes, which by the way were greatly exaggerated, they always became discouraged.

Then one of two things would happen: one would be Miss Jellyfish recommending them to adopt a child that had been broken, or two where the parents would say "We'll think about this and get back to you" which they never did.

But when all seemed lost, the mother surprised the girl for the second time.

"While those are some major concerns we would still like to adopt her," the mother said.

"Are you sure?" Miss Jellyfish replied, her calm expression cracking a bit until it reverted back. "Perhaps if you take a look at the other children you wou—"

"While I thank you for the offer," the mother interrupted, "from what you have told us, it seems that Monaca had been nothing but trouble in the orphanage."

"Well yes, bu—"

"So judging by that, perhaps allowing us to adopt her would be the better option? If Monaca was provided with love and support maybe she'll be able to change her ways."

"I assure you, our facility is more than qualified at providing the care that Monaca needs."

"It doesn't really sound like it."

The mother and Miss Jellyfish started to dispute over what was the best option for the girl. Every passing minute, Miss Jellyfish was looking less and less happy it was hilarious to the girl.

Minutes turned to hours and hours into days. The two argued and argued until billions of years passed and the Earth was swallowed by the sun, the End.

Okay, they only argued for two hours. But to the girl, it might as well be an eternity.

"Perhaps we should discuss this tomorrow?" Miss Jellyfish said upon noticing the time. The girl could see the toll the conversation had on Miss Jellyfish if the bags under her eyes were any consideration.

"There's no need for that. I've got nothing else planned for today," the mother replied, who looked quite confident compared to Miss Jellyfish. She actually looked pleased with Miss Jellyfish's tired face, placing her further in the girl's good graces.

"For the last time, I must insist that you consider other kids for adoption. We at the orphanage frankly consider Monaca unfit for adoption."

"Well, I insist that you let us adopt her."

Another dispute occurred. It was starting to look like the conversation would take another two hours, until the mother stopped mid-conversation.

"Actually, maybe you're right. Perhaps we should discuss this another time."

"Yes we should," Miss Jellyfish said, a relieved sigh emitting from her mouth. "Perhaps next week we can discuss this further?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. It would give me enough time for me to think of what I can write on my blog."

"I'm sorry?"

"Well you see I was planning on writing about my experience at your orphanage once we adopt Monaca," the mother said, with a smile that seemed very devious to the girl. "I was going to write all about how we went through no trouble with our adoption here, but I might need to reconsider that."

Now you see the only thing Miss Jellyfish cared about in her non-existent heart was her job. Over the many years that the orphanage was in operation her and previous swarms had always ensured the orphanage's reputation was spotless to the public. Any criticism on the orphanage had a bad habit of… disappearing along with their critics.

Now Miss Jellyfish could just dismiss them. I mean, what could a single mother do against the orphanage?

But she didn't, and it wasn't until the girl was adopted that she found out why. For you see, the mother's son was attending Hope's Peak Academy, and because of that Miss Jellyfish's fictitious hands were tied. There were really only three possible scenarios she could take.

Option one would be to let them go and risk a single bad blog post to blemish their spotless reputation, all but guaranteeing that she'd be fired.

Option two, let them go and call up their cleaners to hopefully persuade the mother to keep quiet. The situation would more than likely escalate beyond her control, which would still end with her being fired.

Or option three, let them adopt the girl and keep tabs on the family. The risk of being laid-off was still there, but now it wasn't guaranteed.

She very wisely chose option three.

"Perhaps we could test how well Monaca behaves in a family environment…" Miss Jellyfish replied. "On the condition that we schedule regular house visits, to ensure she is treated well of course."

The girl doubted the house visits were for her benefit, but the mother accepted the conditions. "That sounds reasonable."

"That's great. All that's left is to pick a day to deliver Monaca to her new home."

"We can take her today if she wants."

The mother looked towards the girl for confirmation. As if she was going to say no to that.

"Monaca wants to go right away!" the girl said. "She'll go grab her stuff!"

The girl gave a big smile to Miss Jellyfish, causing her to twitch a little. All she had to do was spill the beans to her adopted family about allll the dirty little secrets at the orphanage and Miss Jellyfish could say bye-bye to her career.

But the girl didn't, because she wasn't dumb. She heard nasty rumours about what the Steering Committee did to their hit list, and to be frank she didn't want to confirm if they were true.

And with that the girl exited Miss Jellyfish's office to get her belongings, all the while rubbing it into the orphans that she was getting adopted. In all honesty, she could have left all of her belongings right there in the orphanage; but the thought of the orphans in despair was too good to pass up.

After that, the girl got in her adoptive parent's car and blah blah blah, we all knew what happened next. So I guess it's time to end this flashback.

* * *

And so here I was, enjoying a nice family dinner with my adoptive parents. I bet you're all dying to hear the answer to why they were so keen on adopting me, so let me spell it out to you.

They knew who my _real_ family is.

It was so simple, Monaca felt stupid for taking this long to figure it out. That's why the mother was so insistent in adopting me. Perhaps they were hoping to fetch a high price if my real father gave a damn about wanting me back. Treating me so nicely must be a part of the plan too, most likely in order to control me better. I must give props for their acting; they hide their true colours much better than me.

This whole charade was simply too perfect to be real. Oh well, even if it was real it wouldn't last forever. Sooner or later my adoptive family would leave me and I'd be left all alone again.

Yep. In the end Monaca would be abandoned anyway, so before that happened she'd have as much fun as she could. Monaca's going to use them to meet her real family, and then she'd show them her utmost gratitude for abandoning her.

… But y'know, despite the fact that my parents were faking their kindness, and that they were going to abandon me in the future, and that the daughter was dumb, and that my slave was as useless to me as always, and that he still hadn't finished my homework due tomorrow…

A small part of me enjoyed this fake life of mine, just a tiny bit.

* * *

A/N: So uh, May will be a busy month for me, so updates are going to be rare from now on.


	6. Chapter 6

Monaca Towa meets an interesting person.

Boooring.

Boring, boring, boring. Having to sit in school listening to the teacher go on and ooooon about stuff I didn't care about was maddening. It's almost enough for me to consider hanging myself, meow.

That's a joke. Really, it was.

What was Monaca doing right now you ask? She's hanging out with her "friends" in detention, and it was all because she decided to play a small prank on the teacher. All she was going to do was hide the teacher's car keys so she couldn't go home today. It was perfect; her toys would have distracted the teacher while Monaca took the keys from her purse. She would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling teacher pets.

So I was stuck here, sitting at my desk watching a clock at the top of the classroom. All of my toys were also at their desks, sprouting the same bored expression. The teacher in charge of us was busy on his phone; he too was clearly bored.

Nobody was doing or saying anything. There was nothing but silence for the last hour. It was only the tick-tock of the clock hands echoing in the room that kept me from screaming in boredom. I wouldn't be in this situation if my toys had done a better job at making a distraction.

They're so unreliable; perhaps I should replace them in the future?

The teacher stood up from his chair and said the magic words. "Detention is over. You can go home now."

I had a sneaking suspicion that detention was supposed to last another hour, but whatever. The teacher was already out of the door after dismissing us. We headed to the back of the classroom to pick up our bags.

"Monaca is so sorry that she got us into detention," I said to the others, picking up my bag in the process. "If she hadn't made such a suggestion we wouldn't be in this mess."

I didn't feel sorry in the slightest, but it would be beneficial if I took some of the blame for this. I need to act as a team player if I wanted to maintain my control over them.

"It's not your fault Monaca," the blue-haired boy replied. "Your plan was flawless. The ones at fault were the kids who blew the whistle on us."

There were nods of agreement from the pink-haired girl and the creep, except for one. The red-haired boy seemed to be in a daze. In fact, he wasn't acting like his usual annoying self since the start of school.

That piqued my interest, so I asked, "What's the matter Masaru? You don't look so well."

My question broke the red-haired boy's daze. He looked at us, and there was an expression I was all too familiar with. The kind you made when there's no way out of a beating, or when the last cookie in the jar was eaten by someone else.

Ah despair. Funny when it's happening to others, not so much when it's happening to you.

"Guys, do you want to keep on living?" the red-haired boy said.

The question was so stupid I thought it was some sort of joke. The seriousness on the red-haired boy's face, however, meant it was not.

"What are you saying Masaru?" the blue-haired boy asked, his face now filled with concern. "Of course we want to live."

"Yeah what kind of question was that!" the pink-haired girl replied, "If that was supposed to be a joke, well, I'm not laughing."

"I found it funny…" the creep muttered.

"It's not a joke," the red-haired boy said, "I'm serious about this."

The red-haired boy was trembling, his hands clenched on his pants and his face looking down at the ground. If I had to guess, this had something to do with his family.

"Did something happen again with your father?" I asked, making sure my tone had a bit of concern.

"No, he's been in a good mood this week," the red-haired boy replied, a hint of sadness on his face. "Still drinking and watching television."

"Then why are you asking such a question?"

"I-I'm just tired of all this; having to go home every day making my father miserable, all because I'm a failure of a son. Don't you all feel the same about your life?"

The atmosphere in the room became a biiiiit awkward. Everyone in the room had a solemn expression on their face as they pondered about the red-haired boy's words. I couldn't tell them that my life right now was peachy, or else I'd lose my influence over them. For now, I'd play along and act all depressed.

"It'll get better," the blue-haired boy spoke, breaking the awkward silence. "We just need to endure it. Once we get into Hope's Peak Academy our family will be sure to change."

"How can you say that for sure!" the red-haired boy spat out the words. "We're in the troublemaker class; the class where not one kid had ever gone to Hope's Peak Academy. No matter how many times we prove ourselves to the other adults they never gave us an option to transfer to another class. How can you still say there's any hope for us!"

Before anyone of us could respond the red-haired boy stormed out of the classroom. There were tears in his eyes as he left; it was sooo pathetic. So much for the "hero" act.

The thre— I mean four of us stood where we were. The blue-haired boy was staring at the spot the failed hero was standing just a while ago, regret visible on his face. The pink-haired girl seemed calm, but from the way her legs are shaking, I'd make a guess and say emotionally she's not. And as for the creep well who cared about his feelings?

I guess that left me to act as the voice of reason. It's annoying when they get so emotional on me. I wonder if they could even function without me.

"Cheer up guys," I spoke with a cheer. "Masaru is just having a bad day that's all."

"It sounded a lot more than just a bad day," the blue-haired boy said. "He must have been suppressing those feeling for a long while…"

"He just needed to vent a little, and now that it's allll out of his system he'll be right back to normal! Trust me; Masaru will be fine tomorrow."

"… Yeah, you're right," the blue-haired boy replied. "Masaru is just overreacting a bit…"

"Of course Monaca is right," the pink-haired girl said. "Masaru will be back to his old dumb self tomorrow."

"Yeah, and when he does I'll let him lock me in the bathroom like the good times," the creep said.

The words that flowed out of their mouths didn't match the faces of uncertainty still on their faces. The words of that failed hero seemed to have hit them deeper than I imagined. Maybe I should give them a bit more encouragement to ease their worries.

Or not. I was tired at the moment and I couldn't be bothered to deal with this today. I'd deal with it when I felt like it. Besides, I was fairly confident that the failed hero would be back to his old self, as regrettable as that was.

"That's the spirit! Everything will be Okie-dokie!" I said. "Put all of your trust in Monaca's words."

I gave my toys a quick wave and a goodbye before making my departure to the school gate. Mentally, I was gagging that I sounded a lot like my slave.

Speaking of my slave, he was waiting for me outside near the school gate. I knew this since whenever I looked at the window showing the school gates, I could spot a hooded figure with a strand of hair poking out. There was only one person I knew with an awful hairstyle and drab clothes.

He was on his phone as I approached. The sound of my wheelchair made him look up at me.

"There you are Monaca," my slave said, walking to the back of my wheelchair. "What took you so long? I was worried that something happened to you."

He placed his hands on the push handles, leaving my hands free to rest while he led my wheelchair towards his home. Since he waited this long for me I might as well give him a sticker.

What was I talking about? Well, I decided to ditch the punishment system since my slave wasn't learning from his mistakes. Instead, I created a rewards system to encourage good behaviour. For every good thing my slave does right, I give him a sticker and make a note in my diary. Once he reached twenty stickers I do one good thing for him. I surprise myself with how generous I could be sometimes.

"Nothing much, I just got detention that's all."

My slave placed a hand to his face. "What did you do this time?"

"I tried to hide the teacher's car keys."

"This is the tenth time you got in detention Monaca."

"Yeah, but that's only because my toys failed me. If they had done all of Monaca's commands perfectly she wouldn't be in detention in the first place."

My slave took his hand away from his face, giving me a full view of the frown sprouting on it. Oh boy, I could already hear the incoming lecture about to flow from his mouth. Whenever it's time for the Makoto monologue of hope and friendship, I would try my hardest to zone out. I sincerely believed that if I actually tried to listen to my slave's lectures I'd become an idiot.

_Your friends are not your toys Monaca. _

Oh no, a very dangerous thought just invaded my head. I need to set up my mental barriers if I want my sanity to remain intact. Being near my slave for far too long was harmful to my intelligence; I might need to stop hanging around him so often.

Ever since that incident with the robber he had been nothing but annoying lately. Always asking about my time at school and how I was feeling, acting as if he cared, infuriated me more than anything. I would like it if he dropped the nice guy act and reveal what he really thought about me.

But, I must admit that I somewhat enjoy spending time around my slave. Despite how much I despised most of his views, he's the only person in the whole wide world who I could act natural with. Around him, I didn't need to put up a phony act of kindness or act as if I valued him as a person. I could tell him exactly what I thought without any care for repercussions.

"Are you listening to me Monaca?"

"Of course not Makoto."

There was a sigh from my slave as I checked the time on my phone. Only two hours to go until we were at his home. How wonderful. I leaned back in my wheelchair and closed my eyes, smiling to myself. Now that my slave had finally shut up I could enjoy the rest of the trip in peace and quiet.

… At least I tried to before my slave opened his damn mouth again.

"Hey Monaca, I think I saw one of your friends running out of the school earlier."

I groaned. "What friend?"

"The boy with red hair in your class."

"You need to be more specific than that."

"But there's only one kid with red hair?"

"Well! Be! More! Specific!"

"The boy with red hair and white headphones?" my slave clarified.

"Oh, him." Now that my slave mentioned that detail I vaguely remembered someone like that. "What about him?"

"Did something happen between you two?"

"Nope, everything is fine and dandy." I turned my head and gave my slave a smile. That only caused him to look concerned. "So don't you worry your little brain over such trivial matters."

"Well if you say so…" He looked very unconvinced, but at least he knew not to push the matter any further. "If you need anything I'm always here to give you some advice."

I laughed; okay, that was a pretty funny joke. My slave simply hung his head down; not realising the hilarity of his words.

"Why do I even try…" he muttered.

I needed that laugh though; I was even more certain that everything would be fine tomorrow. That failed hero would return to normal, my toys would stop malfunctioning and I'd be right back to using them as I please. The day I asked my slave for help would be the day the world ended.

After calming down I leaned back and closed my eyes again. My slave didn't talk for the rest of the trip, allowing my mind to rest and leave me looking forward to tomorrow…

* * *

I might have been a tad bit too hopeful that things would return to normal.

I glanced at the empty seat to the right of me. It had been three days since that little outburst and the failed hero had not shown up to school at all. My toys were in a depressive mood because of this, leaving me to postpone all of the pranks I had planned for this week.

The past three days hadn't been so kind to me either. Having to act so positive around my toys was starting to grate on me, and the one to blame for this was nowhere to be seen. If he was going to disappear the least he could do was inform me first so I could replace him.

The bell rang throughout the classroom, signalling the end of this school day. What should have made me happy now only made me dread what's coming. Like the past three days I headed towards the back of the classroom, meeting up with my group of toys.

We waited for a bit, watching the teacher and the rest of the students leaving the classroom. I wished I was leaving the classroom as well, instead of having to stick around for this.

When we were the only ones left the blue-haired boy finally spoke about the problem at hand. "This is the third day of school and Masaru still isn't here. I'm worried that something happened to him."

"Me too," the pink-haired girl said. "Masaru may be stupid, but even he would know not to skip out of school this long."

"Maybe we should go to his house?" the creep said.

"I wouldn't recommend that," I replied. "We all know how much of a temper Masaru's dad has. We should wait for a bit before we do something like that."

"But it's been three days and we haven't heard anything from him." The blue-haired boy leaned himself against the lockers. "You don't think he's—"

"Relax Nagisa," I reassured. "Masaru's dad may have a temper, but he wouldn't go that far."

At least, I think he wouldn't. That failure of a hero's dad had always been careful to cover his actions, but there was always a good chance that one day he would finally fly off the handle. If the failed hero kicked the bucket, well, too bad so sad.

"Still, I think we should all go anyway just to be sure." The blue-haired kid looked at the other two, who nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well if that's what you want Nagisa then we'll go," I relented, seeing as how the three of them had me outvoted.

"There's no need for you guys to go," a familiar voice spoke near the classroom door. "I'm right here."

We turned our heads towards the source of the voice, and lo and behold, the cause of my problem was right there. He looked almost the same since I last saw him, except his school uniform was covered in dirt, and he looked skinnier than usual.

"Masaru! Where have you been!?" The blue-haired boy dashed to the unkempt boy. "We were so worried, what happened to you?"

"I ran away from home," the failed hero answered. He rubbed the back of his head, a slight grin on his face. "Sorry to make you worried guys."

"This isn't funny you idiot," the pink-haired girl said. "You gave us all a massive headache in the past three days."

"S-Sorry."

"But at least you're okay." The blue-haired boy smiled at the failed hero. Aww, how touching. I would have shed a tear if I wasn't so angry at the red-haired brat. But now that he's back my toys could finally stop being so mopey.

"Now what are we going to do about your situation," the blue-haired boy said. "You can't just return to your home, not after the stunt you pulled."

"Maybe he should stay at one of our places…" the creep said. "If he stayed at my place he can wear a mask like mine; we'll be like mask brothers!"

"Yeah, there's no way I'm staying at your house," the failed hero said.

"Aw, now I'm all sad again…"

"Well, he can't stay at my house," the pink-haired girl said. "My family wouldn't have a use for you since you're a boy…"

"And my place is off-limits as well," the blue-haired boy said. "I don't want to give my parents another test subject. That only leaves…"

They all looked at me. Ahhhh, crap.

"Well Monaca, is your home suitable?"

Great, now I was stuck in a pickle. I hadn't been exactly honest about my home life; I might have _slightly_ exaggerated my adoptive family to be a group of monsters to them. Which was true, they just hadn't shown their true colours yet.

If I said yes the failed hero would be fooled by the fake kindness shown by my adoptive family, and my control over my toys would crumble before me. But if I said no my toys would lose their trust in me, and that'd still end up costing me some control.

I didn't gain anything from this. This all happened because the failed hero had to just run away from his home. Damn brat; there's nothing he could do that could make up for this transgression!

"Actually guys, you don't need to do all that," the failed hero said.

I forgive him now.

"What do you mean?" the blue-haired boy asked.

"Well… I came back to school to say goodbye to you all."

"Goodbye?"

"Yeah, because tomorrow I'll be jumping off from the roof of the school."

…

Well now, this was interesting.

"What the hell are you saying!?" the blue-haired boy shouted. "You're not seriously thinking of killing yourself!?"

"There's no hope for me Nagisa," the failed hero replied. "I can't go home because of what I did, and there's no place that'll accept me. I'm going to die either way, so why not make it quick?"

The failed hero spoke about his own suicide like it was the weather. I gotta say I was a bit impressed at how calm he seemed. I couldn't say the same about boy genius here though.

"You can't say that without even trying! I change my mind; you can stay at my place."

"But what about your parents?"

"I'll figure something out, so just try to hang in there Masaru. You just need to endure a few more years and th—"

"I appreciate the offer," the failed hero interrupted, "but I already made up my mind."

The blue-haired boy became frustrated. How strange; I'd never seen him get this emotional before, not even when he got a B on a test did he get this mad. I guess he really did care about the failed hero, for reasons I could not fathom.

"You guys agree with me right?" The blue-haired boy turned to us. "What Masaru is planning to do is insane!"

I must agree with the blue-haired boy; the failed hero's idea was indeed dumb. Out of all the places in the world to jump from you chose here? If it was me I would choose a location that's a bit more memorable for my death.

I looked at the pink-haired girl and the creep, and for some reason, they were avoiding the gaze of the blue-haired boy.

"Kotoko?" the blue-haired boy called out to the pink-haired girl, forcing her to face him. "You do agree with me right?"

"W-Well I… don't think it's a bad idea…" the pink-haired girl muttered.

"Wh-What?"

"I-I'm also tired of this life. I don't want to act anymore, but if I don't mum will be sad and…"

The pink-haired girl turned her head away from the blue-haired boy and me. He looked at the creep next.

"What about you Jataro?"

"Huh? You want my opinion as well?" the creep said.

"Yeah, I do. Are you okay with Masaru's idea?"

"I mean we're all going to die anyway. Like, Mister Pig can't do anything to stop himself from becoming bacon, so why not die young than become some old, shrivelled up bag of meat? Although I am pretty shrivelled up already, so I guess becoming old might be an improvement?"

"I… see." The blue-haired boy turned to the last person he could ask.

"M-Monaca? Do you think our life is pointless as well?"

I could tell from the pitiful look on his face that he wanted me to do something to stop them. I didn't really understand why. If they wanted to jump then why try to stop them?

Buuuut maybe I should. I still have some use fo—

"I think it's obvious what Monaca thinks," the pink-haired girl muttered.

Hmm, was that an act of defiance against me?

"What did you say Kotoko?" I questioned the drama queen.

"U-Uh, well I mean Monaca always makes the right decisions of course!"

"And what would be the right decision here Kotoko?" I approached the drama queen, whose head was still facing away from me.

"I-I don't kn—"

"Look at me."

She finally managed to look me in the eye. She was smiling a little, but the little twitches from her mouth gave it away that she was nervous. What was she so scared about? I wasn't going to do anything bad to her of course. I was just going to give her a little bit of a talking-to.

"I hope you're not implying that my life was perfectly fine," I said, "that I've never suffered like all of you."

"N-No…"

"So what did you mean when you said it's obvious what I think? Did you want to hurt Monaca's feelings?"

"No! I would never dare to hurt someone as adorbs as you!"

"I see. Maybe Kotoko thinks Monaca is a liar, who lied about all of the things the orphanage did to her."

"Calm down Monaca," the blue-haired boy intervened. "Kotoko didn't mean anything like that."

I ignored him. "Did Kotoko forget the reason why Monaca is in a wheelchair? The carers at the orphanage were good at many things, but there was one thing they lacked. I think the word was, gent—"

The drama queen's eyes widened, her body already trembling before I could finish.

"—rification. They had so much money, and yet they couldn't be bothered to improve the neighbourhood. Isn't that so selfish?"

The drama queen nodded her head, the trembling in her body lessening a bit. Poor thing, she thought I was going to say the G word.

I enveloped the trembling girl in a hug. "There, there, Kotoko. There's no need to be afraid. Monaca wouldn't use that word to hurt you, because we're friends."

"Y-Yeah," the drama queen whispered.

"I'm very sorry. It just slipped out of my mind that you were sensitive to such a dirty word. But y'know, it was your fault that I forgot about it since you had to make such a comment."

The drama queen nodded again. What an obedient girl, I gave her a pat on the head.

"Did you say that because of my adoptive family?"

The drama queen muttered a yes. I see. My toys had met my adoptive family at school events, like the school play last week. That one was really embarrassing; I played a tree, and my adoptive family cheered the loudest out of the audience when I popped up on stage. I'd never felt such embarrassment in my whole life!

But the point was every time my adoptive family showed up they would act like the friendliest family in the whole wide world. I knew that it's all an act, but to my gullible toys it would look as if all the stories I told them were a bunch of lies.

Could you believe it? Me, a liar? There's no way I was going to tolerate such slander to my good name!

"Monaca understands what you're feeling Kotoko," I said. "You see Monaca's adoptive family being all supportive and friendly to her that you start doubting her words. How could such a family like Monaca's be as monstrous as she said they were?"

I turned my attention to the rest. "Did all of you doubt me too? Did all of you think Monaca was some sort of dirty liar?"

The three boys didn't answer, guess that's a yes. To think that my influence had been diminishing under my notice; I'd been careless.

I guess I'd have to find new toys now. It's a shame, but what could you do. You couldn't build a house on bad foundations, so I might as well throw them away now. If I didn't have total control over them they'd betray me in the future.

"Even you Nagisa? I expected better from you, but that's okay. We've all been fooled once; adults show us one moment of humanity and suddenly we think that excuses all of the bad they've done."

I let go of the drama queen. "But it's all an act. They don't love us, and never will. How many times had your hopes been shattered, that one day your parents will become better people just because they made something nice for dinner?"

"Lots of times…" the drama queen said.

"So you'll have to take my word when I say my adoptive family are as cruel as I say they are. Sure they might not act like it now, but mark my words, they'll show who they really are in the future. Are we all in agreement?"

"Yes…" my toys uttered.

"Well, that's good!" I cheered, turning my gaze back to the blue-haired boy. "Now then, to answer your question Nagisa I don't think this life is worth living. I'm sure you want to give up as well."

"B-But if I give up now then everything my parents did to me would be—"

"Pointless. I know it's sad, but it's true. No matter how much effort you try to please your parents you will never, ever, _ever_ meet their expectations. But you already knew that didn't you?"

The blue-haired boy said nothing; he just slumped to his knees. Such a miserable sight, it's about time I ended this topic so I could get out of here.

"You deserve a long, loooong rest Nagisa, so I've got an idea. Instead of letting Masaru die alone, let's all go with him. Friends together in life and in death, isn't that a happier ending to our tale?"

There were no objections from anyone.

* * *

"Is everything okay Monaca? You look worn out today."

"Everything is fine Makoto," I responded. "Just keep pushing the wheelchair."

It's about damn time I was free from that classroom and its suffocating atmosphere. Why was everyone so depressed these days? Always complaining about the little things, they should be like me and see the bright side in life.

"You took a long time to come out," my slave said. "Did you get in trouble again?"

"No. My toys wanted to talk about something."

"What was it?"

"None of your concern. Mind your own business Big Bro, or else you'll lose your sticker for today."

My slave opened his mouth, but he closed it. I felt a little proud that he was finally learning to shut up; this sticker system really was a success. There's no need for him to know about the big day tomorrow.

Ah, tomorrow. The day my toys try to fly into the sky and go splat on the ground. Of course, I had no intention of throwing myself off the school roof; I was just going to sit by and watch my prank unfold.

It'd be lonely for a while without my toys, but whatever. I'd always been alone for most of my life. I wasn't not going to kill myself just yet, not until I achieved my one goal in life. Once that's done I would have nothing left to live for, and I'd come back to the school roof to join the rest of my toys in the afterlife. I was going to die all alone with no one to mourn my death…

Sike! Just kidding! My life was far too important to just throw away.

But still, that didn't change the fact that I needed replacement toys. None of the students in my class met my requirements: they weren't as intelligent as the blue-haired boy, as athletic as the red-haired kid, as sycophantic as the pink-haired girl and as annoying as the creep. They didn't even have different hair colours; they all had boring black hair!

Maybe I was missing something, but I just couldn't find anything positive in my classmates. If there was someone naive enough to see the good in everybody I could ask them, but I didn't know anybody like that so it's useless.

…

Wait, actually I did know somebody like that.

I turned around to stare at my slave, making him stop on the street.

"Is something wrong Monaca?" my slave said.

Damn it, I couldn't believe I was actually asking him for advice.

"Say Makoto… can I ask for your… your…"

"Uh, Monaca?"

"… H-Help?"

I closed my eyes, waiting for the world around me to end.

"… Why are your eyes closed?"

I opened my eyes, turning my head to check for any sort of disaster. Phew, looks like the world was still here.

"So what do you need help on?"

"I want to ask you a question."

"What's the question?"

"How can you determine the value of someone to be friends with?"

My question made my slave groan. "Monaca, I'm not going to answer such a ques—"

"Just answer it please."

The seriousness in my voice made him pause. He placed a hand under his chin, his face in deep thought, and he graced my question with the best answer possible.

"Do you enjoy hanging out with them?"

"… Really."

"W-Well what did you want me to say?!"

"I wanted you to say something useful!" I shouted. "You already know I don't like anybody other than myself!"

"There has to be something you like in your friends, why else would you hang around them!"

"Because! They! Are! Easy! To! Manipulate! Isn't there something else you can think of?!"

"No, that was it…"

"Whatever. I shouldn't have asked."

I turned back, leaning back in my wheelchair as my slave continued to push me. What a dumb answer, as expected from my slave. Still, he answered the best he could, so I was going to give him another sticker when we arrive at his home.

No need to rush in finding new toys, I'll take it easy today and wait for the big event tomorrow…

* * *

"T-The ground looks… a bit too high up here…" the red-haired boy muttered.

Tada! It's the day of the big event! That was quick, time sure does fly by when you're having fun, and the prank hadn't even started yet.

All of us were holding hands, looking down the edge of the roof. In a minute the ground beneath me would have four spots of red scattered about.

"D-Don't tell me you're having second thoughts," the pink-haired girl said, her grip on my hand tightening. "After all the trouble you caused you're chickening out?"

"N-No way! I'm no chicken!"

"I heard that your life flashes before your eyes when you're falling…" the creep said, "and time slows down so much that you'll think you're falling in slow motion. I wonder if I can spot my house in that amount of time."

"Don't be ridiculous," the blue-haired boy replied, and like the pink-haired girl, his grip tightened on my other hand.

"How do we go about this?" I said. "Do we all jump now?"

"M-Maybe on the count of ten?" the pink-haired girl replied.

"That sounds good."

"Ten… Nine… E-Eight…"

The pink-haired girl was trembling again. I understand it's a bit cold on the roof, but she really shouldn't make us wait.

"S-S-Sev— "

"Let me count Kotoko," the blue-haired boy offered.

"Thank you, Nagisa…"

"I'll start over again."

Jeez, this was the longest group suicide I had ever attended.

"Ten…"

Finally, it's starting.

"Nine…"

They all looked so scared; I don't understand why they're so keen on doing something they're obviously having doubts on. Their reasoning for this didn't even make sense to me; by getting rid of themselves they'd somehow make their parent's lives better? Wasn't it a bit weird to claim you hate all adults and yet you still cared for the ones that actually abused you?

Eh, at least I get to see something entertaining.

"Eight…"

I wonder what sort of faces they'd make when they realised I didn't jump, assuming they had time to look up to see me. I bet the blue-haired boy would look the most shocked out of them all, right before he goes splat on the pavement.

"Seven…"

… Y'know, my slave would be disappointed in me if he knew what I was doing today. He's standing in the same spot as always on the other side of the school, out of sight from what's happening here. When this incident appears on the news tomorrow, he'd know I had something to do with it no matter how innocent I act after.

This would definitely push him away from me, and with the blackmail material gone, I'd have no way to keep him on my side. I'd be abandoned by the only person who I could sort of trust in this world…

…

Hmm, since when did I start to care about how he felt?

"Six…"

No really, why should I give a damn about his feelings. When his parents sell me out in the future he'd forget about me. He might even have a party with his friends to celebrate my removal. I might as well cut him off from my life right now than later…

"Five…"

…

Argh, what the hell?! Had I been brainwashed or something?! His annoying face kept popping up in my mind that it's taking away any sort of fun from my prank!

"Four…"

Oh for the love of… I give up. Any sort of entertainment I could derive from this had been ruined by my slave's stupid face. Congratulations Big Bro; you ruined Monaca's biggest prank ever. Hope you're happy.

The only thing left to do now was to stop this, but before that, I need to examine what I could gain from such an action.

"Three…"

Let's see, what value do I get from keeping them alive? My slave's answer from yesterday was clearly unhelpful. As if I enjoyed hanging around with them. They're boring, gullible, annoying, forgettable… I could go on and on about their qualities.

However… under my leadership, the four of them worked remarkably well together. So well that without them my pranks would probably go from an eighty percent chance of success to forty percent. I doubt I could reach those numbers again with other students.

I guess if I put it that way I do enjoy their company; when they do everything I asked of them. I'd still rather not interact with them at all, but what could you do.

"Two…"

Now how do I prevent something like this happening again in the future? For starters, I need to get them away from their parents and find them a place to stay. The only place that popped up was my slave's house. It shouldn't be hard to convince my adoptive parents to let them stay, especially when I tell them their sob stories. They might even serve as bargaining chips; why sell me off when you could sell these four instead!

The bad thing about this would be the inevitable loss of my influence. They were still naive to the workings of this world, so I had no doubt they'd be fooled by the fake kindness given by my adoptive family. But if I manage to properly educate them, I might be able to keep them on my side, giving me even greater control over them!

And lastly, my slave would see how much of an angel I was when I bring these poor souls to him. He'd trust me more, and my control over him would grow too!

My adoptive parents were going to love me for bringing them more kids to sell off, my toys were going to love me for rescuing them from their miserable lives, and my slave was going to love me for my kindness. I gained so much for so little with such an ingenious plan.

Now to set this plan into motion. First, I'd give a little shout to get everyone's eyes on me. Once I had their attention I'd just regurgitate one of those "never give up hope!" speeches my slave kept giving me and voila, no more suicide! I had great confidence that my excellent persuasive skills will turn them over.

"One…"

Alright, time to give one of the greatest speeches you ever heard!

"Wai—"

"Now wait just one moment!"

What in the goddamn— who dared to interrupt my awesome speech!

We all turned around to see the intruder, and well…

I didn't expect to see _her._

I never met her in person, but I knew who she was. I mean, how could you not? She was on the covers of magazines, billboards, beauty products and commercials all over Japan. She was the role model for all young girls, the desire for all young boys; you would actually have to be _stupid_ to not recognise her.

"W-Who are you?!" the creep said.

"Who am I? You mortals _dare_ ask me such a foolish question?"

Yeah, that was a stupid question.

The woman in front of us struck a pose, her booming voice filling the rooftops as she responded, "Then listen well! For you, the day I graced you with my presence will be the most important day in your life!

"I am the light shining through the darkness! The one to bring hope in your despairful lives! The pretty soldier of love and Justice!

"My name is Junko Enoshima! And I'm here to rescue you."

* * *

"Is something the matter Monaca?" my slave asked.

"What? Oh, uh, it's nothing."

Well, that was… unexpected. Never would have guessed for the Ultimate Fashionista to show up and throw a wrench in my plan.

"Hey Makoto, what do you think of Junko Enoshima?"

"Junko? Why?"

"I've uh, met her recently when I was hanging out with doughnut girl."

"Her name is Hina."

"Yeah, I kno— Can you just answer my question?"

"When I first met her I thought she looked exactly as she does in the magazines," my slave said. "But her personality was… a lot different from what I read about."

"How so?"

"I'm just going to say that whenever she's around, be prepared for the unexpected to happen."

Yeah, no kidding. Not only did she steal the spotlight from me, but in just three minutes she managed to convince all of my toys to stop their suicide. Now they're staying over at her place, while I received an invitation to visit them tomorrow.

"Is it okay if I… go to her house tomorrow?"

My slave raised an eyebrow. "This is the first time you've asked to go visit one of my friends. Are you plotting something?"

"No, I'm not. First of all, she invited me, and second of all I'm not always plotting to ruin a person's day Big Bro. I can have fun in other ways as well."

"I doubt that, but I'm surprised she invited you over. Are you already friends with her?"

Well, I wouldn't know about that yet. The most interaction I had with her was for three minutes, and in those three minutes she dismantled the great plan I was about to initiate. I should have felt a bit of anger for that but…

Instead, I was a bit fascinated with her. How was she able to gain the trust of my toys in such a small time, when it took me three days just to get them to open up a little? I must find out.

"We're not, but I find her interesting enough that I might consider it."

"Well if you say it like that then I guess you can go," my slave said. "It's great that you're finally making an effort to connect with others. Just make sure to behave yourself okay?"

"Why of course. Monaca will be on her best behaviour!"

It wouldn't hurt to give her a little visit right? Even my slave here was encouraging me to go, and if I found her boring then I'll just leave right away.

I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

* * *

A/N: This is as dark as things get in this story. The following chapters will be lighter; at least I think they will?

I think everyone in the fandom knows how detestable Monaca is, and I at least hoped that I managed to capture that aspect well. I enjoyed her character in Ultra Despair Girls, and while the Danganronpa 3 anime was disappointing to me in many aspects, her role in the show was interesting to me. She's still detestable, but oddly helpful. That's pretty much the reason why I'm writing this story, trying to turn a character like Monaca into a somewhat good person.

For the rest of this year, I'll be busy with life, but I'll try and write down what I can in my free time.


	7. Chapter 7

Monaca Towa enjoys her summer vacation!

He glanced at the clock hanging above the TV. Another twenty minutes until he had to go pick up Monaca.

He looked back at the TV; the credits of the final season of "The Bomb Inside Her" was rolling down the screen. He glanced at his sister sitting next to him on the couch; she was staring at the TV with an expression of disbelief.

"… What just happened," she muttered.

"I mean, I think it's pretty obvious what happened," he said. "Shota came back to life and got together with Yumi."

"B-But that goes against everything the story was leading up to! All the hints in the show were clearly setting up Yumi with Motomoto! The character development, the plotlines, _everything_ was thrown out the window to set up such a terrible ending!"

"I wouldn't say the ending was that terrible. Motomoto got together with Yoko, the villain became good, and all the side plots got resolved."

Komaru stared at him, a mixture of disbelief and curiosity on her face. "Did we even watch the same show? The ending didn't make any sense; why did Yumi forgive the villain so easily? Did she forget about all the horrible things he did?"

"I mean he had a terrible life and he looked really sad an—"

"He placed bombs in her Makoto, _bombs_! How would you feel if someone placed bombs in you?"

"I would feel pretty mad I guess…"

"Exactly! In this season alone he tried to bomb Shota's house, almost killed Motomoto with a butter knife, and he blackmailed Yoko to try and kill Yumi. Yeah, his life was bad, but that doesn't really excuse all of his actions."

This conversation was bringing to mind a certain little sister of his. He couldn't deny that Monaca had done some pretty awful stuff in the past, like blackmailing him for one. Her actions at the school event had put his friends in a sour mood for a week, and the way she talked about her own friends—as if they were nothing but her playthings—was unpleasant.

He still didn't even know much about her. Whenever he tried to ask her something personal she would lie, ridicule him, or pretend to not hear the question at all. The two things he did know was her interest in technology, and that the mere mention of the Towa Group would enrage her.

… But he still kept trying to get her to change. If there was one good thing about him he could be awfully determined in the most demoralising situations. His attempts so far just made her ridicule him for it, but he persisted.

And recently, it seemed to be paying off. She stopped punishing him for any small mistake she perceived he had done, and started to give him stickers instead as a sort of reward for his behaviour. He had received a total of nineteen stickers from her, and at twenty she would do something nice for him, or so she said.

She was changing, slower than he would have liked, but changing nonetheless. He even felt that he's starting to enjoy hanging around with her.

… Or he might just be developing Stockholm syndrome. Crap, he really hoped that wasn't the case.

"You're right that his actions so far shouldn't be ignored so easily," he said. "And he should have received some sort of punishment for his crimes…"

"See!"

"But if he makes an effort to atone from now on, a genuine effort to become better than the person he was in the past, then l think he deserves forgiveness."

Komaru just groaned. "That would be nice, if not for the fact that this was the last season. We're never going to see him develop into a better person after this."

"Yeah… that's kinda bad."

"I can't believe I wasted so many hours of my life watching this garbage…" Komaru let out an angry yell and sprang up from the couch. "But the manga is still ongoing, so there's still hope that the ending will be good."

She smiled a little at him. "At least I found out my brother's the kindest person in the world. There's really nothing anyone can do to make you hate them."

He scratched the back of his head. "I guess that's sort of true…"

"Anyways, I'm going to rest for a bit in my room and hope I forget everything I've just watched. You're going to pick up Monaca soon?"

"In another ten minutes."

"Make sure you two get back home safely, okay?"

"Yeah, I will."

Komaru departed to her room. He looked back at the clock.

Was he really that nice?

* * *

He's been here a few times before, and yet he still couldn't help himself from examining the house in front of him. A double-storey house painted white all around, with a small garage on the bottom left, a window on the bottom right, another window on the top left and a balcony on the top right.

It looked so… ordinary. It wasn't a bad home by all means; it kinda resembled his house a bit. But for someone as famous as Junko, he thought she would have lived in a more extravagant home, something like those mansions he would see on TV.

Maybe it was for the best though; the press would find it hard to believe that Junko Enoshima would live here. The only people who knew such information were her friends in class seventy-eight.

"Well what do we have here?" a voice said in front of him. He directed his gaze to the smiling girl leaning on the doorway. "To what do I owe the pleasure of for such a visit?"

"Uh, hi Junko," he replied. "I'm here to pick up Monaca." He approached the doorway.

"Oh, you're approaching me?" Junko said, her smile growing wider. "Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?"

"Um, I can't talk to you properly without getting closer?"

"Oh ho! Then come as close as you like."

Junko walked back into the house, cackling all the way. He had to admit that Junko could… be a bit strange sometimes with her eccentric personality. But she was still a precious friend of his, so he wouldn't judge her for that. Everybody had their quirks right?

He entered the house, taking off his shoes at the entrance before stepping into the living room. Junko was sitting at a table, leaning in her chair with her feet up. Lying on the table were combat knives, serving as a reminder that there was another friend of his living here.

"Where's Mukuro?" he asked.

"She's taking a walk outside," Junko replied. "She needed a little fresh air from the stench in here."

"I don't smell anything though."

"Exactly. Do you want anything to drink?"

"No, it's fine. I'm just here to pick up Monaca." Speaking of Monaca, she wasn't in the living room. "Where is she at the moment?"

"She's in the backyard with her friends. Why are you in such a hurry Makoto? Are you so keen to leave my presence?"

"N-No it's not like that! I just don't want to disturb you at this time."

Junko grinned. "You're such a worrywart; we're friends, aren't we? Just sit down and relax!"

"If you say so…" He sat down on the seat opposite of Junko. "So uh, how's your anime project coming along?"

"Oh, it's going splendidly!" Junko cheered. "Much better than I predicted. In a couple of weeks, the pilot should be finished."

"That's good to hear," he said. She had been working on this project for a little over a month was what she told him, and it was so important to her that she skipped a couple of school days just to work on it. "Maybe you should show it to me, let me give my opinion on it."

"Well… I don't think you're the type of audience I had in mind for my anime."

"Oh? What kind of audience did you have in mind?"

"The kind that are a bit… unimportant, I guess?"

That's a weird way to describe her audience.

"For you Makoto, I'm preparing something a lot more special than my anime, something ten times better! You better look forward to it."

"I guess I will. I still would have liked to see it."

"Who knows, you might get to see it someday."

"Maybe. I'm sure Monaca would have been delighted to watch it."

Junko dropped her legs off the table and leaned forward to place both of her hands under her chin. With a curious look on her face, she asked, "You sure care a lot about her huh. You two must be very close."

"Ehh, not exactly..." he said.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure."

"Have you noticed anything strange about Monaca?"

"Uh, like what?"

Junko crossed her arms. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed? The way your sister behaved around people feels like she's acting in a cheap school play. Why is that?"

Damn, nothing could get past her. Despite her title, her observational skills were on par or even beyond Kyoko's own.

"To be honest with you, I don't really know why she's like this. She never really opened herself up to me, or to anyone from what I've seen."

"I see. That leaves you only one option."

"What?"

"It's time to do some fuckin' detective work!" Her sudden shout caused him to flinch back. "Have ya checked her room at all Makoto?"

"N-Not really? She set up a rule where I'm not allowed to enter at all."

"Fuck that, do it anyway! Rules were meant to be broken in life."

"I can't just go into her room without her permission, that's a breach of trust and privacy."

"It's for her own good," Junko said. "You're the big brother, and brothers are supposed to look out for their sisters' right?"

"Bu—"

"You said it yourself; she doesn't talk about herself much at all. How long has it been already, a month, half a year? What if she was planning something terrible behind your back, the biggest most awful thing you could imagine, and you could have stopped her if you had only broken that one rule back then. Are you still willing to wait now?"

"…"

Junko chuckled. "Drop that gloomy look on your face Makoto; I'm only joking! As if Monaca can be that cruel. She's just a kid!"

"Y-Yeah…"

Junko's expression became serious. "Still, take my advice to heart. It's nice and all to wait for things to happen naturally, but sometimes ya just gotta take the initiative."

He heard the familiar sound of a wheelchair nearby. The sound grew louder, and Monaca appeared in the living room. She looked around, glancing past the two, before doing a double-take.

"Oh, you're here Big Bro," Monaca said, eyeing them with a smile. "Is Monaca interrupting something?"

"No, we were just chatting for a while," he replied. "Ready to go home?"

"Is it time already? Monaca would have liked to stay a little longer…" Monaca looked at Junko, who gave a little wave.

"You have school tomorrow," he said. "Besides next week's your summer vacation, so you'll have plenty of time to visit."

"Can't I just skip school then?"

"No."

Monaca shrugged. "Fine, fine, Monaca will go to school. See you next week Big Sis Junko!"

"See ya Monaca!" Junko replied, watching the girl go out of the front door. She turned to him. "And Makoto…"

"Yeah?"

"Keep it in mind okay?"

He nodded, saying goodbye to Junko as he met up with Monaca outside. Like the past weeks, he placed his hands on the push handles and began the journey home.

"What were you talking about Makoto?" Monaca asked.

"Nothing really, just school stuff," he lied. "How was today?"

"The same as every other day. Monaca hung around her boring toys while wishing she was with Junko instead."

"Monaca, remember what I said about referring to others…"

"Yes, yes, treat others the way you want to be treated. That doesn't make it any less true though."

He sighed, a thing that was becoming far more common than he would have liked. "At the very least, you really warmed up to Junko over the past weeks."

"That's because she's such a fascinating person! The way she changes personalities at the drop of a hat, how knowledgeable she is of the world, I never get bored around her. You really should have introduced me to her sooner; she's way better than all of your friends! No offense to doughnut girl, but she's a bit too active for my taste."

"Her name's Hina."

"Whatever."

He would like it if she remembered Hina's name, but he's pleased that Monaca wanted to hang out with one of his friends, for real this time. Junko hadn't said anything bad about her yet, so he knows she's behaving herself. Everything's alright at the moment.

… And yet his conversation with Junko kept repeating in his head. He didn't want to doubt her, not when she's showing signs of improvement, but what if this was all an act? She had shown in the past that she was willing to do bad things if it amused her, and it was suspicious how "nice" she became to him out of the blue. Was she actually planning something behind his back?

…

"Hey Monaca, can I ask you a question?" he asked

"Of course Big Bro," Monaca replied, "as long as it's not stupid."

"Are you happy at the moment?"

"I thought I said no stupid questions."

"I mean, are you happy with your life right now?"

"… I guess."

That didn't relieve him at all.

* * *

"Maybe this is a bad idea…" he whispered to himself.

He was standing outside Monaca's room, his former room to be exact, with a hand on the doorknob. He twisted it, and as he expected the door was locked. He had no idea where she hid the key, but this wasn't a problem because…

He took out a key from his pocket. It was lucky he had ten copies of the key made for emergencies. He entered the key into the keyhole, turned it, and opened the door.

He scanned his former room; it looked pretty much the same as it was before he was kicked out. Around this time Monaca should be at Junko's place for about an hour, so better make this quick.

If he was Monaca, where would he hide his plans…

… He had no idea, so he decided to search the wardrobe first. He opened it up and the first thing that caught his eye was a yellow package, stuffed all the way at the back of the top shelf.

Huh, that was easy. He reached in and grabbed the package, opening it up to take a peek at the contents within. There were photos inside, so he took one out to examine it.

The picture showed a man in a suit who he recognised as Tokuichi Towa, eating at a table with other people dressed like him. He checked the back of the photo; written on it was a date along with the sentence, "dumb executive meeting with his like-minded friends."

Yeah, this wasn't creepy at all. He took out another photo; this one displayed someone else talking to a group of teenagers. He checked the back; "Pervert caught hitting on girls too young for him" was written on it.

"They do look really youn— No, got to stay focused!" He examined another photo, and another. Every single one depicted one of the men engaged in an activity. It was becoming very clear that these photos weren't for anything good, but what was he supposed to with them? Should he confront Monaca about it? Maybe it would be better to tell Junko first, get her opinion before doing anything reck—

—Okay, he had been trying to ignore it ever since he opened the wardrobe, but what was that smell! There was some sort of weird odour coming from somewhere around the wardrobe; a weird mixture of perfume mixed with the smell of something rotten.

He placed the package on his desk and checked the entirety of the wardrobe, holding his breath all the way. He found nothing, so he closed it. The smell still persisted, and the only place he hadn't checked yet was the back. He didn't want to though; his mind kept bringing up images of dead animals. He doubted that Monaca would keep a dead carcass around the house, but if she was willing to kill then…

He shook away those thoughts. He was just being paranoid. Monaca could be cruel, but to go as far as to take a life? He's giving her the benefit of the doubt.

Mustering up the courage, he turned the wardrobe around to look at the back. Taped on the back of the wardrobe was a notebook, ragged and covered with stains of varying colours. He reached for the notebook, but midway he changed his mind and left the room to search for rubber gloves and a hygiene mask. Once he got those on he returned and grabbed the notebook.

He flipped it. Through the stains, he could make out the title, "Monaca's Diary," at the top. In the middle was a little cartoon Monaca with the words "Everyone Loves" above its head, and the word "Monaca!" at the bottom.

He turned to the first page.

_Siiiigh…_

_I finally got into Hope's Peak Elementary School, but I didn't expect things to be this dull. Passing all those tests only to do even more work? I think I would rather sleep forever actually. The teacher gave us these notebooks to write down our thoughts and feelings, but I don't really understand. Wouldn't that leave you vulnerable to blackmail? Is the teacher trying to promote weakness?_

_Eh, who cares. I finally have something to draw all of my wonderful inventions in! I'll have to hide this from everyone in the orphanage, someplace where they won't dare to look. The dumpsters would be the perfect place for that!_

_I still don't get the whole write down your feelings, but I'm booooored so I'll give it a try. If someone other than me reads this then I'll find a way to get rid of them, permanently. _

He gulped and turned over to the next page. The right side contained a drawing of a van in space, titled "The Neet Express." For a drawing it was very detailed, maybe a bit much in his opinion. If you showed this to anyone he wouldn't blame them if they thought an engineer drew this.

The left side contained more writing.

_The teacher assigned us into groups today to work on a poster. Monaca could have done the whole thing herself, but she graciously let the others do most of the work. _

_Monaca was stuck with four other kids whose names she can't be bothered to remember. There was a red-haired boy who kept boasting about how cool he was, a pink-haired girl who loved to tallllk a lot, a blue-haired boy who did the work as fast as possible, and some creep. _

_I don't like them, but they look like fun toys! I'll test them out in a week and see what happens._

He flipped to the next page.

_I got punished today._

That was it, just one sentence on a single page. The next page had the same thing. He flipped again.

_I got punished today._

He flipped several pages in and stopped at random.

_Kya kya kya kyaaan! Luck was finally on the side of Monaca! I've finally escaped from the orphanage, much sooner than I anticipated, but I'm not complaining. No more cold meals, no more of my stuff being stolen, no more beatings disguised as "training" and no more misspellings of my name! That last part I'm really thankful for; it gets so tiring correcting idiots who won't learn._

_I probably shouldn't be celebrating this early; I still don't know what my adoptive family's planning for me. Maybe I'll be stuck in the same situation as before, endless "training" with no end in sight. Nothing ever going right for little Monaca…_

_But I can't help it. For the first time, I might actually feel happiness in my dull, pathetic life. Besides, after two weeks I think I got a good feeling about this family. The mother and father seem gullible enough; the daughter was just stupid, and the son even stupider! I'll set up a prank sometime in the future; see how far I can get away with._

_Monaca Naegi… The name doesn't sound right. Monaca Towa wasn't any better, but it fits me. As much as I hated them The Towa family were my real family. The family here was temporary, a means to an end towards my goal._

_All that's left to do was wait. I just need to get into Hope's Peak Academy, get my father to recognise me, and then…_

_I'll figure the rest out._

Oh… Guess this explained why the Towa Group was such a picky subject for her. He skipped ahead to the latest entry.

_After pondering for several days now I've finally thought of the perfect idea! I'd like to give a biiiig thank you to Big Sis Junko! The discussion we had today was such an inspiration. Monaca's super-duper high school plan can finally come to fruition! Now the details of this plan ar—_

"Having fun reading Big Bro?"

He froze. Oh no no no n—

He turned around. Monaca was standing at the door, a smile on her face as she watched him.

"H-Hello Monaca," he said. "You're back early…"

"Indeed I am Makoto," she replied. "Big Sis Junko wasn't home today, so Big Sis Mukuro drove me back here. Just when I thought I was having a bad day I find Big Bro snooping around in my room like a criminal. I'm going to have to reduce your sticker count to zero for this."

She glanced at the diary in his hand. "I see that you've found out my secret Makoto."

"S-Secret?"

Monaca started giggling; she placed her hands on the wheelchair, lifted herself up…

And placed both feet on the ground, standing tall in front of him.

"Yes, it is as you've read," Monaca proclaimed. "I, Monaca, can walk the entire time!"

He dropped the diary. Yep, now he had seen everything.

"… Why do you look so surprised? I know that this might be a shock, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal."

"Y-You can _walk!_"

"Um, yeah I can. Didn't you read that part in my diary?"

"N-No… I uh, skipped ahead…"

Monaca looked dumbfounded. "Oh… this is embarrassing. Let's pretend this never happened okay?"

Monaca walked (god he still couldn't believe it) towards him, picking up the diary from the ground.

"I really need to find a better hiding spot for this. How much have you read?"

"Uh, the first page, the second page, a little bit of the middle, and a bit of the last page."

"Really, you couldn't be bothered to read it in order? I don't know if I should be happy or sad at that."

"Well, I— Wait that's not the point!"

He went and grabbed the package of photos. He took one out to show it to Monaca. "Why do you have these photos?!"

"It's for a school project," she replied.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"It was worth a shot. But to be honest this doesn't concern you at all. Why don't you put that back where it belongs and get out."

He shook his head. "No. If you're planning something horrible then I won't stand by and let it happen."

Monaca sighed and placed a hand into her skirt pocket. She fumbled around in it for a while, but she eventually took out an item and held it up to him

"Must I remind you that your hands are tied?" she waved her phone in front of him. "As long as I have the blackmail photos you can't do anything against me."

"I don't care. I'm not going to sit by if you're planning to hurt people."

"… You're just so full of surprises. Who would have thought that Makoto had a backbone to stand up to me? But think reallll carefully about this; this is your future we're talking about here."

Monaca walked back and sat down in her wheelchair. She wasn't smiling anymore. "I'll let you off the hook this time. Now please, the door's this way."

He stood where he was for a moment, but he placed the photos back on the desk and followed her order. He didn't want things to end like this, but she was right. As long as she had those photos he couldn't do anything. Better think this through before doing anything rash.

He had a foot out the door until Monaca called, "Oh, by the way. Why did you decide to sneak into my room? It seems out of character for a boy scout like you."

Should he tell her Junko gave him the idea? No, better keep her out of it.

"I just decided to that's all," he lied.

"Hmm, turn around."

He turned. She was scrutinising him as she asked, "Did someone ask you to do this?"

He hoped those poker face lessons from Celeste paid off. "No, I thought of this myself."

"… I see. That's all I wanted to ask. Close the door on the way out."

He stepped out and closed the door. He took out his phone and dialled a number as he walked to the living room.

"Hello?" Junko answered.

"Junko, are you busy at the mo—"

There was a scream on the other end of the phone, loud enough that he moved the phone far away from his ear.

"Wh-What was that?!" he asked once the scream had stopped.

"Oh uh, that? I'm… just watching a horror movie that's all."

"That sounded awfully real though."

"It's a _very_ good horror movie."

"Are you at the cinemas? I'll call you back la—"

"No, no, it's fine!" Junko interrupted. "I'm uh, in my own private cinema, so there's no one here but me. What did you want to talk about?"

"It's about Monaca."

"Oh! What did you find?"

"I found an envelope of photos showing the chairman of the Towa Group and his son. Did you know anything about this?"

"Yeah about that… Promise me you won't get mad okay?"

"I promise."

"I'm the one who took those photos."

"… Why exactly?"

"I mean it just happened in the heat of the moment ya know? Me and Monaca were just having a nice little conversation until I bought up the Towa Group. Then suddenly she looked at me all serious and was like 'Big Sis Junko, can you do me a huuuge favour since you're obviously the most amazing and gorgeous person in the world?' And I was like 'Why of course Monaca, I would do it since I _am_ the most amazing and gorgeous person in the world.' What else was I supposed to say?"

"Uh, you could have said no."

"But she had such an adorable face when she asked that I couldn't refuse. Besides, I knew that this was a totally creepy thing to do. That's why I asked you to check her room in the first place."

"True…"

"See, I'm totally innocent! I was just a poor bystander forced into doing a gross action, so there's no reason to get mad at me."

"I… guess?" He wasn't really in agreement with Junko's thinking, but she did try to make up for it in a way?

"Have you found out what's she planning to do with those photos?" Junko asked.

"No, I was about to until I was caught."

"That's a shame. What are you going to do now, are you going to ground her or something?"

"I can't really do anything against her because of… personal reasons. Do you have any ideas?"

"Hmm, how about you let her stay with me?"

"I don't thi—"

"I'm not asking you to let me adopt her," Junko clarified. "Just let her stay with me for about… a week. By my calculations, spending one hundred and sixty-eight hours around Junko Enoshima will lead her down the right path."

It wasn't that bad of an idea. Junko might be the only person that Monaca actually liked, so there's a good chance that she'd stop whatever she's planning if Junko was the one talking to her.

"… Let me think about it for a bit," he said. While it was a good idea, he felt it was a bit unfair to let Junko handle his problem. He had to at least try to solve this himself before letting his friend handle it.

"If that's what you want…" Junko replied, with a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Give me a call if you changed your mind."

"Will do." He said goodbye to Junko and hung up. Now then, he should call the others next for their opinions. He dialled Kyoko's number first…

* * *

This was harder than he thought.

He finished his fifty-eighth lap around the fountain and decided to sit down at a nearby bench. His friends couldn't give him any advice since he had to omit a ton of background information. His little walk around the fountain didn't spark any ideas either and just resulted in sore legs.

"Maybe I should let Junko handle it…" he muttered. He felt bad at letting a friend handle what was his problem, but at the moment he couldn't think of anything else he could do.

"To think that I'd meet someone like you here, today must be my lucky day."

He was startled out of his thoughts by the voice nearby. He looked to his left; there was a teenager wearing the Hope's Peak Academy uniform. He must have been daydreaming pretty hard if he didn't notice the boy standing a few centimetres from him.

"Oh, where are my manners," the teenager said, offering a handshake. "Nagito Komaeda."

He accepted the handshake. "Nice to meet you. I'm—"

"Makoto Naegi."

"Y-Yeah… have we met before?"

"Not in person, but I know a bit about you from personal research and from our class representative. Her name's Chiaki Nanami. You two have met before yes?"

Ah, now he knew why his name seemed familiar. Chiaki mentioned before that there was another student with the same talent as him.

"… Umm, you can let go of my hand now."

Nagito let go of his hand. "Ah yes, sorry. I was too preoccupied with your brilliance that I forgot."

"Okay… Didn't you bomb the academy gym?" he asked.

"Hahaha, well… that's a long story. I'm sure you don't want to hear it, especially from scum like me."

"No go ahead, I'm all ears."

"The short version is yes, I did. But it was for the best after all. If my classmate's talents were able to shine the brightest due to my actions then I have no regrets."

"I… think I understand?"

"I'm glad you do! You truly are one of the symbols of hope to be able to understand someone as worthless as me. After my little stunt I got suspended indefinitely, got into a plane crash—"

"Wait what."

"Yeah, I decided to take a vacation during my suspension. Unfortunately, the plane I was on crashed, leaving me stranded on a desert island."

"D-Did anyone else survived?"

"No, I was the only survivor. It was lucky that a nearby plane flew by and spotted my signal, else I might have been stuck there for a year."

"That must have been horrible for you…"

"I guess, but I think that's enough talk about me."

Nagito sat next to him. "Let's talk about you! I couldn't help but notice that you seem to be troubled."

He guessed it wouldn't hurt to see what Nagito had to say about his situation, so he told him an abridged version of his dilemma.

"I see," Nagito said, a hand under his chin. "So from my understanding you believe your adopted sister is planning something sinister, but you can't do anything against her due to reasons?"

"Yeah that's the gist of it," he said.

"While this is truly a dilemma, I'm sure someone with your talent will be able to overcome this challenge!"

"I'm glad you think that, but I really can't think of any other options except for the one proposed by my friend."

"And you don't want to use that idea because you feel it's a bit selfish…"

Nagito reached into his jacket pocket, taking out a pen and a piece of paper. He wrote on it and handed it to him. He checked it; written on the paper was an address.

"I think I've got an idea," Nagito said. "Are you free tomorrow?"

"I am," he replied. "Why?"

"I would like you and your adopted sister to come to this address."

"Is this your house?"

"Something like that."

Nagito got up from the bench. "I'm going to set things up for tomorrow. Farewell for now!"

"Wait! You don't have to trouble yourself with helping me. I mean this is my pro—"

"I know, I know," Nagito interrupted. "You don't want to drag anyone into your affairs. Truly admirable, as expected from someone of your talent! But don't worry Makoto; I'm only going to set the stage for your trial."

"Bu—"

He started to walk away from him. "Just think of this as a stepping stone!" he said, and soon disappeared from his view.

He stared back at the paper in his hand. He felt a bit uneasy going to someplace he never been before, but Nagito really looked like he wanted to help him. He'd go meet up with him tomorrow, see what he had planned.

The only thing he had to do was convince Monaca to come with him…

* * *

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Monaca said.

"Yeah, this is the right way," he replied.

"Sure it is Big Bro, just like how it was the right way to walk around in circles five minutes earlier."

"This time I know we're going the right way."

He pushed the wheelchair forward. He had no idea how he did it, but he managed to convince Monaca to come with him for today.

"Why did you decide to come today?" he asked.

"You're asking now?" Monaca said. "Monaca didn't want to at first, especially after the unforgivable thing Big Bro did. But from how desperate he looked Monaca felt a bit intrigued to see what he's planning today. You're not planning to kill me are you?"

"What!"

"Just kidding! Although if you are planning to kill me make sure my death's a bit memorable."

"No, that's not— I'm not planning to do anything bad to you Monaca. We're just going to meet an acquaintance of mine."

"Figures. I've hung around with you long enough to know that you won't take the easiest solution to your problem. A little talking to won't change my mind y'know."

"Well, let's just see what happens."

A few more steps and they were at their destination. He took out the piece of paper to double-check the address. He looked at the house in front of him, then at the paper, at the house again, then at the paper.

"A-Are you sure this is the place?" Monaca asked.

"I-I'm pretty sure it is," he said.

"Is this a pyramid scheme? Have you been scammed Makoto?"

"I don't think so…"

The two-storey house in front of them was by no means old; it was a lot more modern than the houses he saw in the neighbourhood. It's just that the house might… have seen better days, to put it lightly.

There was a small gate that separated the two from the house. He touched it, and the gate collapsed in front of them.

"Real nice place you brought us to," Monaca said. "The paint's peeling off, the window at the bottom left is boarded, there's a dead rat festering over there in the crack… truly a place fitting for this acquaintance of yours."

The front door of the house opened. "Makoto, you actually came!" Nagito called out. He strolled over to them, stepping over the pieces of broken glass that lay in his path.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I thought you would have changed your mind. After all, there are better ways to spend your time than with someone like me."

Nagito was still dressed in the Hope's Peak Academy uniform. "Why are you still wearing your uniform?"

"Well my time alone on the deserted island did some damage to my usual clothes, so for now my uniform will have to do until they are repaired."

Nagito turned his attention to Monaca. "I take it you're Monaca Naegi?"

"Yep, that's me!"

"Nagito Komaeda, at your service." He did a slight bow to her. "Were you at the school event, the one that failed due to 'outside circumstances'?"

"Hmm, maybe. Why?"

"That little incident caused quite a fuss among my classmates. For a while the only thing they were talking about was the little girl with green hair, travelling around the school in her wheelchair ruining everything. Of course, I'm not accusing you of being her; there must be plenty of people that fit that description!"

"How terrible! Monaca can't imagine herself doing something sooo mean."

"Yes, it was a truly terrible thing… But in a way, I'm grateful to that person. The despair caused by them brought my classmates down, but they were able to overcome it. They resolved themselves to show their talents at their brightest for the next event; a remarkable display of Hope triumphing despair!"

"Uh… huh…" Monaca gave a look to him.

"Ah, forgive me; I rambled on for a bit did I? Please come in!"

Nagito walked back into the house. They, however, stayed where they were.

"How long have you known this guy Makoto?" Monaca asked.

"I've… only met him yesterday," he answered.

"And you seriously trust him?"

"I don't think he means us any harm."

"Well, I don't like him."

"You say that to everyone you meet Monaca."

She crossed her arms. "I do, but this time I _really_ don't like this guy. He's giving off serial killer vibes Makoto! Just take me to Junko's house."

He had to admit that Nagito kinda freaked him out a bit. He sounded a bit too obsessive about hope. But he only knew him for a couple of hours; maybe he's a great guy underneath it all?

"Let's just hear him out," he said. "If it gets uncomfortable we'll leave straight away."

"… Fine," Monaca responded.

He picked up a large stick and used it to clear away the glass in their path. He then pushed the wheelchair into the house.

The living room contained little in the way of decorations. The only notable things in the room were the furnace on his left, a family portrait hanging above the furnace, a table with four chairs in the corner to the far right, and a vase on top of the table. Nagito was standing to his left, next to stairs that led to the upper floor. There was another door at the far end of the living room, opened to reveal the kitchen within.

"Hey uh, Nagito," he said, "do you really live in a place like this?"

"Oh, this isn't my house," Nagito replied. "I own it, but I don't sleep here. This house belonged to a family friend."

"What happened to them?"

"He died in a plane accident."

"O-Oh. I'm sorry to hear that…"

"No, it's fine! Turns out he wanted to give me this house when I'm older, and the stuff he had here was pretty valuable. I sold out some of it and came out… probably around a few million richer."

"A-A few million?!"

"Yep, a few million. I don't really need the money, but I guess a few million wouldn't hurt hahaha."

"I'm starting to feel pretty uncomfortable…" Monaca whispered to him.

"Now then. Let's go upstairs to get started," Nagito said.

"Uh, can't we just stay here?" he asked.

"No, no, we need to go upstairs for this to work."

"For what to work?"

"You'll see."

"Um, about going up the stairs…" Monaca said. "If you hadn't noticed already that's going to be pretty difficult for someone like me."

"You can have your big brother here piggyback you up the stairs," Nagito answered. "The wheelchair will have to stay here. Don't worry; I'm not planning to sell it."

The boy chuckled at his joke. Monaca just stared at him with an expression that he could only describe as the face when you find poop under your shoe. He crouched down in front of her, her arms wrapping around his neck as she latched onto him. Nagito went up the stairs, and they followed.

"I'm feeling super uncomfortable now Makoto," Monaca whispered in his ear. "This guy's such a creep."

"It's not nice to judge someone you just met," he responded. But yeah, he's feeling super creeped out too. Nagito was being very tight-lipped about what he's planning. He thought they were just going to talk about stuff, but now that they were going upstairs he had no idea what's going to happen.

"If he's planning to kill us I'm going to use you as a distraction and save myself."

"Wow, thanks for the heads up."

"You're welcome."

They reached the top. Nagito was standing to the right, an open door next to him that led into a room.

"Right this way," Nagito said.

He peeked inside the room. The room here was a lot cleaner than the living room. On his left was a door that led to the bathroom and next to the door was a miniature kitchen. On his right, there was a bunk bed, a bookcase, a desk with a microwave, and an exercise bike. The window in the middle of the room was tiny; only a little bit of light was shining through it. It was also pretty high up; he would have to be standing tiptoed to even see through it.

He stepped into the room. Oh yeah, it was also strange how the window was barred on the inside. Wouldn't it make more sense if it was barred out—

"No wait Makoto turn bac—"

Monaca's warning came out too late; the door was shut behind them. He tried to turn the knob but it wouldn't budge.

"Okay Nagito," he said. "Very funny, open up the door."

"I'm sorry to say Makoto, but this isn't a joke," Nagito replied.

"Fantastic work Big Bro! We're now trapped inside an old, gross house because you just had to trust this creep."

"You're not helping here Monaca."

He kept trying to turn the knob. This had to be some kind of joke right? Nagito would never do something lik—

—Ah, who was he kidding? He knew something was up but he decided to ignore all the warning signs. He kinda deserved this, to be honest.

"What are you planning to do to us?" he asked, having accepted that yes, he was indeed locked in here.

"Nothing actually," Nagito said. "All I want you two to do is just… talk."

"Is that it?"

"Yes, that's all I want. From what I can gather from our talk yesterday, you two don't seem to trust each other that much."

"Not really," Monaca said.

"So in order to solve your dilemma, I created a situation where you can be alone with her. With this, the two of you can let out your emotions, strengthen your friendship, and allow a wonderful seed of hope to sprout from your new bond!"

That didn't sound too bad actually.

"So if we just talk to each other you'll let us out of this room?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll let you two out after six weeks."

Scratch that, this was bad.

"Six weeks?!" Monaca shouted. "You mean I have to spend all of my summer vacation with Makoto stuck in this crummy _room!?_"

"M-Monaca…" he gasped out, her grip around his neck having tightened. "I can't breathe…"

"I left plenty of food inside the cabinet," Nagito continued. "And I'll be checking on you daily to make sure everything is going well. I'll give you two some guidance to ensure your bond's properly developing, though I'll take my leave when private matters are being discussed."

He scrambled through his pockets to get out his phone. Yes! There's still a way out! Now all he had to do is call emergency ser—

"No service?!"

"Ah, I almost forgot. There won't be any cell service for about… a month. How incredibly unlucky for us. Rest assured I already told your parents about our little arrangement here, with some minor details left out. Your parents are really nice Makoto, but that should be expected from parents of those with talent!"

Six weeks.

Six weeks locked inside with an angry Monaca.

He's not going to survive the first week.

"Now then," Nagito said. "Why don't I start off with some advice? Your situation might seem bleak at the moment; that it's hopeless to try to escape. But remember that in the end, hope will always triumph over despair. So don't give up, believe in the possibility of escape so your hope can…"

* * *

He charged at the door once more, and like the rest of his attempts he bounced off the door to the ground.

"Keep going Big Bro," Monaca said, watching all of this from the top of the bunk bed. "I think I can see a scratch on that door."

He grabbed his shoulder. Was it bad if he couldn't feel anything from it? He stood up, falling right back down when his legs buckled and decided to just lie on the floor.

"You can at least try and help me," he said.

"But I did help. While you were busy throwing yourself against a brick wall Monaca searched the entire room."

"Did you find anything?"

"If I did I wouldn't be here would I?"

He tried one more time to stand up and this time it was a success. He shambled to the bottom of the bunk bed and sat down.

"I guess we're really stuck here…"

"No thanks to you," Monaca said. "Monaca tried to warn you but noooo, you wanted to trust this creep instead of your trustworthy little sister. But that's not even the worst part, oh not even close. The worst part of this entire situation is having to hear him ramble on and on and oooooon about hope and despair, for _six weeks!_"

He stared at the door. "Nagito, are you there!" he called out. No answer. Either he was still behind the door listening in on them or he left. The latter actually sounded plausible to him; he didn't seem like the type of guy to go back on his word.

Then again he didn't strike him as the type to trap people inside rooms.

"I think he's gone for now," he said.

"Or maybe he's just staying silent," Monaca said, "waiting to go on another one of his rambles. If he starts talking charge at the door Big Bro. Maybe you might get lucky and smash into him."

"I really don't think he's here. I guess we should start talking while we have time."

"Why yes, because I'm _absolutely_ in the mood for talking."

"What else are we supposed to do?"

"For starters, you can either shut your mouth for six weeks or throw yourself against the door again. Either one is preferable to talking to you."

… This wasn't going to be a pleasant six weeks. He might as well try anyway.

"You had a bad life at the orphanage didn't you Monaca?" he asked.

Monaca peered down at him. "Yes, I did Big Bro. But how did you kno— Oh wait, now I remember. It was because Big Bro Makoto broke into a little girl's room and read her diary. That's pathetic y'know."

"I'm sorry okay! It was wrong for me to pry into your secrets, but those photos I found didn't exactly put my worries to rest."

"Whatever, it's all in the past now. So what about my terrific orphanage life? Do you want to know about alllll the great things the carers did to me, or maybe how me and the other orphans got along with each other?"

"I don't want to know about those kinds of things. What I want to know is why you didn't just tell me or my family about this."

"And do what exactly with this information?"

"We could tell the headmaster, get him to shut down the orphanage."

"Ah Makoto, you really do know how to make me laugh," Monaca said. "Let's go tell the headmaster, the headmaster who's nothing more than a puppet for the Steering Committee. Surely nothing could ever go wrong."

"It had to be better than saying nothing."

"Saying nothing _is_ the better option! Don't you understand how much influence the Steering Committee has over Japan? Why do you think Hope's Peak Academy's the only school that cultivates talent? It's because they made sure to get rid of all of their competitors."

Monaca sighed and lied down on her bed. "But what do I know. If you want a target on your head go ahead and tell him Makoto. I won't stop you."

Well, this conversation was a total failure.

"Can I ask you about something else?"

"What is it this time?"

"About the Towa Gro—"

"Nope, I'm done! Good night Makoto!"

"It's still evening thou—"

"I! Said! Good! Night!"

He heard movement from above. He stood up and saw that Monaca had hidden her entire body under her bed's blanket. Guess that's enough talking for the day. He'd try again tomorrow. Hopefully, she would have calmed down by then…

* * *

"Monaca, what are you doing?"

"I'm flushing things down the toilet." Monaca took out a rubber from the pencil case she had found and dumped it in the toilet.

"You're going to clog up the toilet at this rate."

"I. Don't. Care." There was a flush from the toilet. "This bathroom's garbage anyway, the floor keeps making a sound every time I take a step."

Monaca got up, throwing away the empty pencil case into the bathroom bin. She started jumping up and down for some reason, with every jump causing the bathroom floor to creak.

"What are you doing this time?"

"I'm trying to collapse the bathroom floor so I can escape."

"That's too dangerous Monaca. Stop it."

"No."

"Just come over here and si—"

"No!" Monaca shouted. "No! No! No! I want to leave right _now!_"

Monaca stomped the floor again and again. Now he was really worried that the floor would actually collapse.

"I hate this place!" Monaca screamed. "I hate it I hate it I hate iiiiiit!"

"Okay, just… calm down Monaca!" he said. "Think this through a little. If the floor collapsed now you'll fall along with it. You don't want to hurt yourself do you?"

Monaca stopped her tantrum. She glared at him, but she eventually walked out of the bathroom and slammed the door shut. She sat down against the bathroom door, still glaring.

"D-Do you want to eat anything?" he asked.

"No," she answered. "I don't want to eat your stupid cup noodles."

"That's all we have Monaca."

"Well, I don't want it!"

He had to stop himself from groaning. It was the second day and Monaca's mood had already grown worse than it was yesterday. It didn't help that they woke up to the sound of Nagito ranting about hope and despair again. He managed to distract himself from most of it by reading the books in the room. Monaca, however, was resistant to the idea of reading "dumb old books," and bore the full assault of Nagito's words for four hours.

He got up from the bed and tried to turn the knob of the main door. Once again the knob didn't budge, so he leaned against the door and glanced at Monaca.

She's still giving him that death glare. He avoided her gaze and pretended to look around the room, waiting for the right time to initiate conversation.

"I could have been hanging around with Big Sis Junko by now…" Monaca said.

"You really like Junko huh?" he said, looking at her now that she wasn't trying to kill him with her mind.

"Well, duh. As I said before, she's attractive, intelligent and infinitely more interesting than you. What's not to like about her?"

"I guess that's true."

"You see! Nobody can come even come close to how amazing she is!"

It's rare to hear Monaca praising someone wholeheartedly; he's starting to feel a bit jealous.

"… Although if I have to criticise Big Sis Junko," Monaca said. "I feel there's… something off about her."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, unlike you I can't read her like an open book. I know she's hiding something about her character, and it sorta reminds me of… well, me. Maybe that's why I like her so much."

Huh, now that she mentioned it he did feel like there's something strange about her…

But it's probably nothing. "I agree that maybe there is something weird about Junko, but I don't think it's anything bad."

"You're not exactly a good judge of character," Monaca said, "and I didn't ask for your opinion anyway."

He shrugged, at the very least it looked like this little conversation calmed her down a bit. It should be a good time to change the topic.

"Sooo uh, about your fam—"

"Oh Makoto, you really do know how to push someone's buttons!"

Nope, too soon!

"Okay, okay! I'll stop asking!" he said, and turned his head away from the scowling girl's face to the other side of the room.

"… Ugh, fine…" Monaca said. "What do you want to know?"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he replied.

"Well, I have to because a certain _someone_ wouldn't shut up about it."

"I'm just worried about you. It must have been a shock to find out that your family was the Towa Group."

He looked back at Monaca. She was getting up now. "Yeah, it was," she said. He watched her walk to the bunk bed and climb to the top, burrowing herself under the bed's blankets.

"Is this why you had all of those photos, so you could take revenge on them?"

She popped her head out of the blanket. "Yep, that's the gist of it."

"And how exactly are you planning to take your revenge?"

"Oh, is Big Bro curious of Monaca's super amazing plan to take down the Towa Group? Monaca doesn't know if she should tell you or not…"

Monaca placed a finger under her mouth, her face in deep thought. Not that he believed she was going to tell him. This was most likely an act to get his hopes up.

"… Ah, it should be fine! It's not like you can do anything about it."

Or not.

"The first part of Monaca's brilliant plan is to get her father's attention. It should be easy enough; all she has to do is build something to show off to him. He'll be sooo amazed at my invention that he would beg me to come back to the family."

"Uh-huh."

"The next part's even easier. Now Monaca has to prove to her dumb father how intellectually superior she is to her lesser brother. Once that's out of the way her father would promote her to chief executive of their robotics branch."

"Okay."

"This part might be a little tricky. It might take months at best, or years at worst, but Monaca will create her greatest invention. A tool of immense power…"

His mind was racing at the possibilities. Was it some sort of weapon? Maybe she's planning to build some kind of bomb?

"A giant robot!"

"… What."

"Yes, a giant robot!" Monaca repeated, beaming at him. "The giant robot will be controlled by me, and I will rampage throughout Towa City with it! Everything that my father had built, crushed by my hand! The reputation of the Towa Group will be ruined forever!"

"…"

"I can see that you are clearly astonished by the brilliance of my plan. You may clap now."

"C-Can I offer some feedback?"

"Go ahead."

"That sounds really stupid."

She scowled at him. "Hmph, clearly Makoto is too dumb to grasp the brilliance of Monaca's plan…" She lied down on the bed. "But I guess it does need a little work."

"And what are you going to do if this uh, plan of yours fail?"

"It won't. I'll make sure that the Towa Group gets completely and utterly destroyed even if Monaca has to go down with it."

"And if you do succeed? What then?"

"… I don't know. Monaca hadn't thought that far yet."

"You don't have to take revenge on the Towa Group Monaca."

"But I have to. Do you know what kept me going during my life at the orphanage, what kept me sane from alllll the 'training' the carers put me through? It was the thought of meeting my real family, meeting them and giving them a taste of despair…"

Monaca chuckled. "It's stupid, but another reason why I had Big Sis Junko take those photos was because… I wanted to know them better. Underneath all my thoughts of revenge, a tiny part of me kept this small belief that maybe it was a mistake; maybe they had a good reason to abandon me…"

"…"

"Buuuut as I looked through the photos it confirmed what I'd always known. The father was just your standard sleazy businessman and the son was simply a paedophile. That tiny part of me finally died and now I can go through my revenge plan without any doubts!"

"You can't devote your entire life to revenge…"

"You'd be surprised. What are you going to do now that you know all of this? Are you still going to try and stop me?"

"If people are going to get hurt then yeah."

"Then what if I only hurt those two? They deserve it after all."

"Even if they do deserve it wouldn't it be better to just… move on? I feel sorry that their actions caused you so much pain, but to put so much time and effort just to get back at them? It's not worth it."

"So you're saying I should forgive them? Sorry, but that has as much chance as Socki the Sock getting their hole fixed."

"I didn't say that you should forgive them. I just think that taking revenge on them now is pointless. You're no longer at the orphanage Monaca, and you're living with people that really do care about you."

"Yeah right."

"It's true. Why won't you believe it?"

"Because Monaca knows why your family adopted her. It's because they know that Monaca's the bastard child of a wealthy man, a man who wants to keep her existence a secret. I wonder how much money they'd get from blackmailing him."

"Monaca, do you actually believe that? It's been almost half a year already. You should know by now that my family isn't like that."

"Then why did they adopt Monaca then?"

Monaca was staring off into space, her expression unreadable. The last time he had seen her make such a face was when she got scolded by his mum.

"Monaca doesn't have any useful talents… She's just the Li'l Ultimate Homeroom, a title that's worthless in the real world… She doesn't even fill a role in the family; there's already you and Komaru. Take me out of your family and nothing of value will be lost. Your perfect life will just keep going as if I never existed…"

"That's not true. Not having some sort of useful talent doesn't mean that nobody can ever love you Monaca. I mean look at me; my talent's the Ultimate Lucky Student, something that's going to be pretty worthless when I'm looking for a job if I'm being honest."

"…"

"And you're wrong if you think my family won't miss you. You're a handful sometimes, and your personality's something that _really_ needs a lot of work. But when you're smiling, telling jokes to my family, you really do brighten up their day."

Monaca's expression didn't change; she just moved her head back inside her blanket. He hoped his words had some positive effect on her.

"… Beautifully said, as expected for one full of such talent!" a voice spoke behind the door. He scuttled as far away from the door as possible.

"Na-Nagito?!" he said. "How long were you standing there?!"

"About a minute. I'm sorry to have overheard a bit of your conversation, but I'm very proud that you two are developing a wonderful bond between each other! There's no doubt that the hope produced from it will be qui—"

"Oh for the love of God, can you just shut up!" Monaca screamed from underneath her blanket. "Nobody gives a crap about your dumb hope and despair!"

"Ah, but I must disagree. It might not seem like it at first glance, but hope and despair do play a huge part in this world. For example, while you believe that talent does not prove your worth Makoto, I have to say that yes, it does. Having talent means there's a strong hope in you, and that hope can be further strengthened…"

* * *

"Hey Monaca, can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead…"

"Do I talk about hope a lot?"

Monaca revealed herself from her blanket. "On a scale of one to ten on how annoying you are about hope, you're at a ten and the creep's at twenty."

"I don't think I talk that much about hope…"

"Believe me, you do."

She retreated back into her blanket. He glanced at the tiny window in the room, night had fallen. He moved away from his corner of the room to the bottom bed, falling face-first into the pillow.

It was only the second day and he could already feel his mind crumbling from the constant rambling of hope. He liked hope and all, but not to _this_ extent.

"I don't think I can handle any more of this…" He mumbled.

"Good," Monaca replied. "Let this be a valuable experience to never trust someone you met for a day."

"Mm-hmm…"

…

"… Y'know, I really do hate you."

"I'm sorry?" He turned his body to stare at the bottom of the top bed.

"The way you act so kind to me, being so patient despite everything I've done to you… Just drop the act already."

"I'm not acting."

He could hear her giggling from above. "You really are a saint Big Bro! No ordinary human being could ever tolerate my behaviour for this long. Either there's something very wrong with you in the head, or you're an angel sent from heaven…"

Monaca's giggling got louder. He's starting to worry about his safety.

"What could Big Bro possibly gain from hanging around me? Maybe he wants the blackmail photos?"

"That's not it." It would be nice to get rid of them though…

"Oh? Then maybe he wants Monaca to become a good little girl?"

"Y-Yeah?"

Monaca erupted into full-on laughter.

"Ahahaha! Me, become a good girl? How boorrring!"

"A-Are you okay Monaca?"

"What do you mean Big Bro?! I'm fiiiine! I'm having the time of my life!"

For a long uncomfortable minute, he listened to Monaca's insane laughter above. Had she snapped already?

"But really," she said, her tone containing no hint of amusement anymore. "You should give up on that."

"Why?"

"Because I see no point to it. You said it yourself; my life's going fine at the moment: you and I are in a nice working relationship, I have my own room, I'm meeting with someone interesting… What's the big deal?"

"But doesn't it feel wrong to you, hiding yourself behind a fake personality?"

"I don't see the problem. It's not rocket science to know that everyone wears masks Big Bro; nobody would be friends if we all showed the ugly bits of ourselves. Do you really think people would want to hang around me if they knew the real me?"

"No, but if you try to cha—"

"And here you go again. Don't you know it's rude to force someone to change? Haven't you heard that the most important thing in life is to stay true to yourself? But since you're so stubborn why don't I tell you a little secret; remember how I said I met Big Sis Junko while hanging out with doughnut girl? That was a lie."

"Then where did you meet her?"

"On the school roof with my toys. Now, why were five kids hanging out there in the first place? I'll give you one guess."

"… Wait, don't tell me yo—"

"Ding ding ding! Time's up! If your answer was group suicide then give yourself a pat on the back."

He couldn't lie down anymore; he had to see Monaca's expression. He got out of bed and looked at the top bunk; Monaca was gazing at him with a grin.

"I know what you're thinking," she said, her usual cheery tone back at its full splendour. "Why on earth would they even do such a thing? The simple answer is that Monaca was bored, so as a prank she convinced them to try and fly into the sky."

"You can't be serious…" he muttered.

"But I am. Monaca was going to sit back and watch her toys go splat splat on the ground. If she didn't change her mind in the end or if Big Sis Junko didn't come at all there would have been four little spots of red at Hope's Peak Elementary School. Now tell me Makoto; would you have forgiven me if they jumped?"

"… No, I wouldn't."

"See, even you had to admit that my plan was truly horrible. Do you see it now? Monaca can't ever be a good girl after that, so give up on me."

"… There's something you said that got my interest."

"And what's that?"

"You said you changed your mind in the end. Why?"

"… I got bored." The grin on Monaca's face disappeared. "Have a nice sleep Big Bro."

She went under her blanket. He was still processing their conversation; she just revealed something that made all of her previous acts look tame in comparison.

A group suicide, all because she was bored. It made him feel that all of his efforts were for nothing; how could he change someone who's so stubborn to stay the way they are?

… But he still had a bit of hope left. Monaca didn't make any hint at it, but she was lying about the reason she changed her mind. He hung around her long enough that he had gotten quite good at spotting most of her lies.

And why bother telling him about this? Wouldn't it be smarter for her to keep quiet about it? And why didn't Junko tell him about this?

There were still doubts about whether Monaca was truly irredeemable, and that was enough to have hope. That's all he could do really, cling onto hope that she stopped because she's growing a conscience, and not out of some self-centred reason. Maybe it's all for naught; maybe she really couldn't change… but like he said he could be oddly persistent even when things appeared to be grim.

"You too," he replied, and went back to his bed.

* * *

"… What are you doing this time Monaca?"

"I think I got it Big Bro, the tool that can let me escape."

"Monaca, that's a spoon."

"I don't care what it is! With this, I can just dig a hole here…"

Monaca stabbed the ground with the spoon, and like he guessed it snapped. She stared at the now broken object in her hand, before flinging it at a wall.

"This is fine…" Monaca muttered. "I still have more spoons… and there's still plan B."

"What's plan B?" he asked.

"Building a time machine out of that microwave."

"…"

It's official. Monaca had gone completely insane.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"N-Nothing, just carry on digging."

"Y'know, I thought your attitude would be a bit meaner today after our little chat last night. and yet you're acting no differently than usual. Doesn't Big Bro care about the nasty thing Monaca planned?"

"I do care. What you planned would have been unforgivable if you had carried it out, but you didn't."

"That's only because Big Sis Junko stopped it."

"But you were planning to stop it anyway at the end; you had a change of heart."

"Monaca could have been lying about that."

"No, you were telling the truth."

"So Big Bro can detect lies now?" Monaca sighed and got up to her feet. "I'm starting to think you really are some sort of angel… but whatever. Big Bro's like a cockroach; he never knows when to give up and accept the inevitable."

"Um, thanks?"

Monaca walked to the kitchen, no doubt looking for more spoons to destroy. He walked to the front door as always to turn the knob, third times the charm right? He turned the knob and as always the door opened.

…

"… M-Monaca, I think I found our way out."

"Mm-hmm, and I found Santa's workshop."

"N-No really, look!"

She stopped searching a drawer and turned around to him. She stared at the open door for a while, but she scrambled to his location once she snapped out of it.

"How did you open it?" Monaca whispered.

"I just turned the knob and it opened," he replied. "Do you think it's some sort of trap?"

They both poked their heads outside the door. Nagito was nowhere to be found on either side.

"Only one way to find out. You go down the stairs first."

"Why me?"

"Because I'm a kid and you're a teenager. If this is a trap you'll have a better chance of fighting back than me. Don't worry; Monaca has your back Big Bro!"

He doubted that, but her reasoning sounded solid enough. He exited the room and headed down the stairs one at a time. He peeked into the living room; Nagito was nowhere to be found. The kitchen door was closed, so maybe he's in there?

Monaca's wheelchair was near the furnace. He'd grab it once he checked if the front entrance was locked. He sneaked to the front door, grabbed the knob, twisted it and opened up to—

—Nagito standing right there. He really was unlucky, wasn't he?

"Ah, Makoto!" Nagito said, smiling as he stepped into the house. "I was hoping to meet you before you escaped."

"H-Hey Nagito…" he said, putting as much room as possible between him and the smiling boy. "How's your day?"

"Well there hadn't been any major accidents yet, so I guess it's pretty great!"

"That's good…" His back touched the end of the living room; there's nowhere to run now.

"How are things with Monaca?"

"Fine! Everything's fine now. We've talked things out and we're ready to leave. There's no need to keep us trapped inside that room anymore…"

"… If that's the case then my job here is done. Feel free to leave now."

"Wait really?"

"Sure, go ahead. I wasn't really planning to keep you two locked for six weeks; that would be kidnapping!"

He wanted to retort to that, but decided to keep his mouth shut.

"I wanted you two to escape all along. You see I actually left a key hidden inside somewhere in that room."

"You did?"

"I did. It was going to be a bit of a team effort to find it in order to build up your bond and all. You, Makoto, was supposed to ride the exercise bike in the room, activating the UV light I installed to its front. Using the UV light your little sister was going to search for letters marked in invisible ink, hidden inside the books I left behind in the room. This would then spell out the location of the key."

"How were we supposed to figure that out?!"

"Hmm, I thought I gave you plenty of hints though. Weren't you listening to my speeches?"

"Not really… Where exactly did you hide the key?"

"Inside a rubber."

"I think Monaca flushed that down the toilet."

"That's… disappointing to hear. When you two didn't escape on the second day I started to doubt that my plan was working at all, so I unlocked the door for you. Unless… this was your strategy all along, to cause me to doubt myself and let you go. If so then truly you really ar—"

"Not to be rude," he interrupted, "but I think it's about time that Monaca and I leave now…"

"Yes, of course. But before that, I need to do one last thing…"

Nagito reached into his school jacket…

And pulled out a revolver.

"Wh-What the hell?! Why do you carry a gun Nagito?!"

"I always carry one for emergencies," Nagito said, pointing the revolver at him. "You never know when you might get attacked."

"Then why are you pointing it at me!? I'm not planning to hurt you or anything!"

"I want to test our talent. Aren't you at least a little curious to see which of us has the strongest luck? And what better way to test it than with Russian roulette?"

Nagito placed a hand on the cylinder and spun it around. He dashed to the door next to him, thinking that he could hide inside the kitchen. It didn't work; the door was locked. He heard a click behind him; he turned around to face Nagito.

"This Russian roulette is a bit different than usual. Instead of one bullet, there are five. If your luck is stronger than mine then the chamber should be empty when I pull the trigger."

Judging by his luck there was a one hundred percent chance that he would be shot. Nagito had the revolver aimed squarely at his chest, and he doubted that he could move fast enough to dodge a bullet at this range.

Things seemed hopeless, but there was still a way out of this situation. He glanced at the stairs behind Nagito. If Monaca came down right at this moment, maybe she could sneak behind him an—

There was a loud sound of a door being shut from above the house. Scratch that, Monaca had abandoned him. He's going to die.

"Hmm, but did I actually put the bullets in?" Nagito said, aiming the revolver down. He opened the cylinder.

His mind went into overdrive; Nagito was distracted for just a moment. Should he charge at him? No, that wasn't a good idea. Last time he did that he charged headfirst into a table, and he didn't want to test his luck again.

He glanced to his left; there was a vase on the table. Maybe if he threw it at Nagito it could knock him out. It looked pretty expensive though… he would feel pretty bad at destroying it.

"Looks like I did. Sorry to keep you wa—"

He ran, the fastest he had ever run before, to the table. He grabbed the vase and hurled it straight at Nagito's head.

He missed; the vase broke against the ceiling, its pieces falling next to his target.

"… Can I say something?"

"Go ahead."

"That was a pretty bad shot Makoto."

"I know…" He sighed; it was pretty unbelievable how he missed his mark when Nagito was practically standing in front of him. A child could have thrown better than him.

"Now just hold still while I sho—"

The ceiling collapsed, burying Nagito under a pile of rubble. He covered his eyes from the dust that arose, waiting for the noise to stop. Once it had he opened his eyes.

Monaca was lying on top of the rubble, looking around her surroundings in confusion. The entire bathroom had fallen down with her, with water spewing down on the living room from the exposed pipes. Underneath the rubble with only his upper body exposed was an unconscious Nagito, the revolver lying a few feet away from him.

Monaca glanced down at Nagito, then at him. For the first time in the three days they've been trapped, she looked truly happy.

"Yayyy! Big Bro killed the creep!" Monaca cheered. "Ding-dong the creep is dead! Which old creep? The gross old creep!"

He rushed towards the unconscious boy. He was still breathing; he let out a sigh of relief.

"He's still alive."

"Ugh, thank you for ruining the mood Makoto." Monaca jumped off from the rubble. She picked up the revolver and examined it.

"Whoa whoa, put down the gun Monaca."

"I'm just looking. Don't you trust me with it?"

She spun the revolver around in her hand to show that yes, he absolutely did not trust her with a gun.

"Don't do that! You're going to shoot someone!"

"Relax. This revolver isn't real; it's just an airsoft model see."

Monaca opened the cylinder and showed him what was inside. She was right; upon closer inspection, he could see that the revolver was just a plastic, albeit detailed, toy. Inside the chambers were airsoft pellets instead of real bullets.

"That's a relief…" he said. "At least we know he doesn't actually carry a real gun."

"You never know," Monaca said, "it wouldn't surprise me if he did. So, are we going to kill him?"

"What, no. I'm going to call an ambulance when we find a payphone."

"He locked us up in a room, for almost three days! Can't you make an exception?"

"No."

"Fiiiine… Can I kick him?"

"No."

"Just once?"

"No."

"Wait… you're not letting him get away without any punishment, are you? At least let me get some blackmail material, for protection of course."

"Nobody's getting blackmailed today. Besides, I think getting crushed by a bathtub is punishment enough."

"You really are a softie. Don't you want to do anything to him at all?"

"The only thing I want to do now is go home and forget about what happened here. Can we have an agreement on that one?"

"Yeah, yeah, I agree… Where's my wheelchair?"

"It should be over… there…"

He pointed at the spot where he last saw her wheelchair. He could see it, but whether it was still the same shape well…

Monaca trudged to her wheelchair, if he could still call it that. She crouched in front of it, picking up one of the wheels that dropped off. She stared at it, her expression not giving him any hint as to what she's feeling.

"Are you okay?" he said, walking to her side.

"Yes, I'm… fine," Monaca responded.

"Was it special to you?"

"In a way. Two days after I faked my injury one of the carers gave me this, said it was a gift from someone. He never gave me an answer when I asked him, but I knew who it was once I found out the manufacturer."

"The Towa Group?"

"Mm-hmm. It's funny, but when I saw the name on the wheelchair I felt… happy. All the anger I had built up over the years vanished at that single moment, and I thought maybe they still cared about me."

Monaca got up and tossed the wheel at the broken mess in front of her. "Buuuut I snapped out of that disgusting train of thought. They probably sent it because one of the carers threatened them or something."

She walked away to the front door. He examined the broken wheelchair, crushed underneath the bathroom sink that had fallen down with Monaca. He started collecting the fallen pieces that were scattered about.

"What are you doing?" Monaca said, leaning on the front door with her arms crossed.

"I'm taking the wheelchair with us," he answered.

"Why? I can just get a new one."

"Because this wheelchair meant something to you. It feels wrong to abandon it when we haven't tried to fix it."

"Are you even looking at it Makoto? It's going to cost you more money to repair than it is to replace it."

She's not wrong… The wheelchair looked pretty much unsalvageable. Only a top repairman could bring back the wheelchair to its former glory, and he didn't want to think about how much that would cost.

"I… agree with you on that. But instead of getting someone else to repair it, why don't you do the job Monaca?"

"Me? Why?"

"I saw one of your designs in your diary. I've never seen someone at your age draw with such detail; I think you might have a talent with technology."

"I still don't see why we can't just buy a new one…"

"Give it a try. Who knows, you might like it enough that it becomes a new hobby."

She sighed as she continued to watch him pick up the pieces. Despite the fact that there was an unconscious body lying nearby and water was splashing everywhere around him, it felt a bit soothing for him.

Monaca headed towards the stairs. "I'll find you a bag…" she said, and left him to continue on his task.

* * *

"That should be it."

He placed the receiver back. An ambulance should be on the way to Nagito's location.

"I really think we should have gotten rid of him," Monaca said to his ear. "He might come after us for revenge y'know."

"I don't think he's the type to do that," he said. He exited the telephone booth and began walking in the direction he felt was correct.

"Are you sure you remember the way?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"It doesn't seem like you do. Are you tired? I feel like we're slowing down a little."

"No, I'm fine."

He's not. Turns out that carrying a child on his back and holding a duffle bag with a broken wheelchair stuffed inside would put quite a strain on his body. He just hoped that he could make it back home without collapsing on the way.

"If you can't walk anymore take a break. The last thing I want now is for you to drop me to the ground."

"That's very considerate of you Monaca."

"Just keep walking."

"… Are you still going to go through with your plan?"

"And here I was hoping that you had forgotten. Well, I got some good news for you Big Bro, I'm not. Hearing that creep ranting about hope and despair turned me off the whole thing."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Nothing. For the rest of my life, I'm going to stay in my room and do nothing but eat and play games."

That… wasn't what he expected to hear. She must be tired that's all; by tomorrow she'd be back to her normal self.

Wait. That might be a bad thing too.

"Why don't you sleep for a while?" he said. "I'll wake you up when we're near."

"And let you dump Monaca into some back alley? No way."

"I'm not the ty—"

"I know, I know, I'm just joking. Monaca knows by now that Big Bro really is just that naive."

Monaca rested her head on his shoulder. "But that naivety leaves you vulnerable Makoto… One day you're going to put your trust in the wrong person and they'll betray you… What will you do when that happens…?"

"… I'll figure it out," he said. "And I have you with me. If I'm ever unsure about someone I'll consult with you if that's okay."

"…"

"… Monaca?"

He could hear her breathing near his ear; she must have fallen asleep. Their awful experience of being locked up in a room might have actually brought them closer. Maybe Nagito was right, overcoming a despairful situation might be a great way to bond together.

…

Damn, he really needed to get some sleep.

He stopped walking. Didn't he pass this street already? He checked his surroundings to realise that yes, he was indeed walking in circles.

"…"

This was going to be a long day…


	8. Chapter 8

Monaca Towa enters a competition!

She scanned the message on her phone. What just happened?

No seriously, what the fuck just happened?!

The message she got from Monaca was saying that she could no longer hang out with her due to a "severe loss of enthusiasm in the joys of human interaction."

What the hell did she mean by that?! She called Makoto earlier on in the day to find out what happened in the three days he didn't answer her calls and he only gave her a vague, "It's complicated."

But this wasn't even the worst of it. Just moments earlier before she got this text the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy was at her doorstep. It gave her a brief panic attack as she thought she had been found out, but he was here for something far worse…

She stared at the papers lying in front of her.

He asked her to officially adopt the four brats that were staying in her house. Apparently Makoto told him about how she "rescued" the four of them from their terrible home lives, and now he wanted her to be their legal guardian. She should've tried to give them away to someone else but in the heat of the moment, she accepted the offer.

She scanned one of the papers. Now she's Junko Enoshima, caretaker of four children.

…

"Fuck that!"

She got up and hurled her phone to the other side of the room, watching it smash through her television to reach the wall behind it. The phone broke from the impact, leaving a crater on its destination.

Ah, screw it. She needed a new phone anyway, and a new house while we were at it. This one was starting to bore her.

She collapsed back on her chair, staring at the ceiling above her. Damn that Makoto; he ruined things yet again. The first sign of trouble was his family adopting Monaca just when she found out where she was.

It made her mad at first, but she got over it. The girl was a bonus, an extra step in her master plan. Overall the girl had no use to her other than to serve as an extra bargaining chip, and she had plenty of those for dealing with the Towa Group.

But then she heard about the school event, an event every one of her classmates was looking forward to ruined by one little girl. Oh, how she wished she was there at the time. The chaos and despair caused by Monaca were impressive enough to bring the girl back to her attention.

For a month she spied on Monaca, waiting for an opportunity to introduce her gorgeous self. It was a trial for her sanity having to watch Monaca go about her everyday life. Like damn girl do _something_ interesting! All the girl ever did was go to school and come back home. When she was a kid she fought a pack of dogs with a stick for a piece of meat. No wonder people say today's generation were a lost cause these days.

Where was the girl who caused her precious classmates so much despair? She almost gave up on Monaca again until finally, something happened.

One day, five kids were standing on the roof of Hope's Peak Elementary School. Side by side with their hands clasped together, they approached the edge of the roof and stared at the ground beneath them. Anybody with a brain could tell exactly what they were planning to do.

It was only then did she allow the mortals to gaze upon her visage. She needn't have spared them a glance to tell that they had fallen to the depths of despair, except for one. She commanded the despaired children to stop their foolish action, and offer themselves to her.

At the time it sounded like a good idea to gain her target's trust. If she knew she would become their caretaker in the future she would have dumped them somewhere else or just disposed of them in secret.

But there's no use regretting about it now. Monaca had potential to become another tool; a sort of miniature and less cute version of herself that would spread despair to the world. Monaca just needed a little help from her big sister Junko.

She offered Monaca an invitation to hang out, and over time she managed to worm her way into becoming the girl's friend. Once their friendship had been established she began pushing the girl's buttons. In every single one of their conversations she would bring up something related to the Towa Group by "accident," and bit by bit the girl was getting angrier and angrier until she snapped.

Out of the blue Monaca asked her to take photos of the chairman of the Towa Group and his son. She said she wanted them for a research project, but it was obvious that the girl was planning something. She could still remember how overjoyed she was that day; finally, Monaca was stepping towards despair. She obliged and took the photos for Monaca just like she asked and—

—It was a fucking waste of time! She went through so much trouble to take those photos and what did Monaca do? She did nothing, absolutely fuck all with them and continued on with her life.

She knew Monaca wanted revenge on the Towa Group, but hooooly shit the girl could not make up her fucking mind! Whenever she gave her several opportunities to take it she would reply with that infuriating answer, "I'll think about it." She practically spelled it out to her that she was willing to help her with her revenge quest, but the girl still didn't do anything.

Something was making Monaca hesitate to take that final leap to despair, and she had a very, _very_ good guess as to what.

Makoto Naegi. That pain in the ass had to be what's holding Monaca back. She tried to find out what kind of relationship Monaca had with Makoto and all she got was that he was her "servant" and she was the "master." That didn't tell her much at all, other than the fact that maybe Makoto was into some kinky shit.

Regardless of how Monaca described it, their relationship was a problem for her if she wanted the girl under her control. She gave a hint to Makoto to check out Monaca's room, leading him to find out the photos and straining their relationship. Next, she offered to let Monaca sleep over at her house for one week; one was enough time to let her convert the girl over to her side. If Monaca was still resistant to her charms then a little brainwashing should do the job.

Makoto said he needed some time to think about it, which pissed her off but you know what? It's fine, everything's fine. She'd just wait for him to give her an answer and she'd plan something accordingly.

…

But then this bullshit happened! They disappear for three days and when they finally decide to talk to her they tell her this shit?! Who the fuck do they think they're talking to?! She's Junko Enoshima god damn it, at least respect her fucking time!

She picked up the combat knife lying on the table and threw it at a wall. What was the cause of this sudden change? Did Makoto know about her real self? No, it shouldn't even be possible for that herbivore boy to see that her personality right now was a fake. If even Kyoko couldn't see through it then there's no way in hell that Makoto could.

Could Monaca have found out about it? No, that couldn't be it either. The girl was smart, but not smart enough to see that she's being used by her. If Monaca couldn't even figure that out then it's doubtful she even knew about her real personality.

Argh, there were too many unknowns! Without the proper context it's too risky to convert Monaca to her side now. It had to be this week as well, arranging the first mutual killing game was no easy task despite her vast resources.

Should she just kill Makoto? He'd been proving to be more of a nuisance than she thought; in the future he might derail things even further. She'd disguise herself, sneak into his room, and stab him in the chest! But that sounded like so much work; maybe she should get her smelly sister to do the deed instead…

… Nah, she wouldn't kill him. Makoto might be a hindrance to her plan, but he's a precious friend. They all were; she loved every single person in class seventy-eight. That's why they had to go through her killing game; their deaths would give her a nice dosage of despair.

She started giggling, her voice growing higher and higher until she was cackling out loud. Oh, she could almost see them tear each other apart! Who would be the first victim? Probably Makoto, he'd be such an easy target since he's so weak and gullible.

She stopped laughing, and that familiar sense of boredom overcame her. That was the thing, wasn't it? Aside from this mishap, everything had been going as expected. Even then this problem wasn't going to affect anything at all in her plan. At this stage The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History was inevitable.

Besides, Monaca might still serve some use for her in the future. All she had to do was wait for an opportunity.

She sighed; it's boring knowing everything that's going to happen… The world was going to fall to despair, her friends were going to fall to despair, and she was going to fall to despair once everything's done… What would she even do once she's done with her life's work? Nothing in the future could ever bring her the same amount of despair…

…

Eh, as long as it brought her or anyone else to despair it'd still give her some pleasure. Maybe she'll travel the world, bringing despair to anyone who had the misfortune to meet her.

Now then, what to do with the four kids?

She picked up one of the papers. The name "Kotoko Utsugi" was written on it, with a picture of the child attached at the top. Monaca was out of her reach now, but as for these four…

… Hmm, she got an idea.

* * *

He knocked on the door with his free hand, while the other struggled to hold the grocery bags.

"Monaca, I brought you the items."

"Come in," Monaca replied. He opened the door and was met with the smell of garbage that emitted from the dark room.

"What the— I just cleaned this room yesterday!"

Monaca was at the bed, lying on her stomach playing with the game console in her hands. The floor was littered with cans, snacks, garbage bags and a whole bunch of equipment he could have sworn didn't exist the day before.

"You did a bad job," she said.

"I know for a fact that this room was spotless yesterday. How can you even eat so much?"

"Monaca's a growing girl; it's only natural that she eats a lot. Now bring me the snacks."

He waded through the trash to Monaca's location. He took out a packet of chips and held it above her face. She reached out for the snack with one hand, but when she almost grabbed it he moved the snack away from her.

"What do you say Monaca?"

"Do I really have to?"

"I won't give this to you if you don't."

"Fiiiine. Thank you for bringing me the snacks nanny Makoto."

He held out the snack, letting Monaca grab it this time. She opened it up, placed it under her chest, and continued to play on her console. He reached for the curtains and opened them, letting in some light to illuminate the room.

Monaca winced from the light shining on her and threw a blanket over herself.

"Come out from there," he said. "You're going to damage your eyesight."

"But it's too bright outside!" Monaca whined. "Can't you turn on the lights instead?"

"It's a waste of electricity to do that. Come outside Monaca."

She didn't budge, forcing him to remove the blanket himself. With no blanket to protect herself from the light, Monaca turned off her console and burrowed her face into a pillow.

"You're sooo cruel Makoto…" Monaca muttered out. "Ruining a child's playtime because she didn't want to follow your stupid orders…"

He scanned the mess of the room he was in. He judged that it would take him at least four hours to clean it. He groaned; he really did become Monaca's nanny didn't he?

"I'm going to leave the rest of the snacks in the kitchen," he said.

Monaca raised her head. "But how am I going to eat then?"

"You know you can walk right?"

"Have you forgotten about our arrangement? If it's just us two in the house then I'll walk wherever I want. But if your family are around you're going to have to carry me, unless you want poor Monaca to crawl on the ground?"

She said this, but that hadn't stopped her from forcing him to carry her when they're alone in the house.

"Just tell them the truth Monaca. My parents aren't going to sell you out."

"That doesn't matter. Maybe I was wrong about your family after all, but that doesn't mean they're all like you. There's still a possibility that they'll hate me after learning the truth, so unless you give me definite proof that they won't you and I will keep our mouth shut."

"Then at least fix your wheelchair. It's been four weeks already and you haven't even touched it!"

"I'm very busy Makoto."

"But all you do is eat and play games! You don't even have any homework!"

"Why are you trying to rush me Big Bro? Haven't you heard the saying 'slow and steady wins the race?' Monaca will finish it when the time's right."

She laid her face back into the pillow. His head was throbbing; was he getting a migraine? The event with Nagito had caused her to become so lazy and apathetic she sometimes wouldn't even bother to go outside and eat unless he brought her food. At this rate, she would starve herself to death if he wasn't around to look after her.

Could he even call this an improvement? It's saying something that he wished she was back to her old self; at least then she could take care of herself.

He waded through the sea of trash to the door. He needed a break from all of this, or else he might actually snap.

"Makoto, wait!"

He turned around; Monaca was holding her arms out to him.

"I need to poop now."

He had to contain himself from screaming.

* * *

He scribbled off what he wrote just now. Why did he even think that giving Monaca a pet was a good idea? Would it even survive for half a day?

He got up off the couch and paced around the living room for the tenth time today. He came up with forty ideas on how to get Monaca to become active again and he had to scribble out all but one of them. Even that idea didn't seem so good; the thought of leaving Monaca alone with a therapist scared him.

The doorbell rang. "Makoto, can you get the door?" his mum called out from the kitchen.

He went to the door and opened it, standing outside was a smiling Nagito.

"Ah Makoto, we meet ag—"

He slammed the door. He didn't mean to do it; his hand just sort of reacted on its own. He opened it up again; Nagito was still standing there unfazed.

"That was quite the reaction."

"Yeah… sorry about that."

"It's okay. I get that sort of reaction a lot."

He examined Nagito. The last time he saw him the guy was crushed by an entire bathroom. Now he was standing before him looking as if he never had a scratch in his entire life.

"You sure recovered fast."

"I sure did! I didn't even have to pay for it; the hospital fixed me up free of charge for the crash."

"Wait, what crash?"

Nagito let out a chuckle. "It's quite a funny story. You see right after the two of you left one of the neighbours came by to check up on me. He saw me in my sorry state and dug me out; taking me to his car so he could drive me to the hospital. We only managed to get out of the driveway until an ambulance crashed into us."

"Di-Did anyone get hurt?"

"I mean it was a pretty big collision. Everyone was severely injured, except for me. By a stroke of luck, I managed to avoid getting more injured than I already was."

"I-I don't see how that story's funny…"

"You don't? I would explain the joke, but I don't want to come off as if I'm insulting your intelligence."

"That's not— nevermind. So, what brings you here today?"

"I'm here to finish you off."

"…"

"… That was a joke. I'm just passing by to see if things are going well between you and Monaca."

They weren't, but he wasn't going to tell him that.

"Yeah everything's fine," he lied. "We're all fine here now; you _definitely_ don't have to help us anymore."

"Hmm, is that so? Well if you want to develop your bond deeper…"

Nagito took out a piece of paper and handed it to him.

"Why don't you give this a try?"

He looked at the piece of paper. It was a competition being held at Hope's Peak Academy, where participants could present their talents to judges to get a chance to enter the school. From what he read it seemed that anybody could enter, but what was more surprising was that it was organised by the headmaster.

"I didn't think the school would have let him hold another event after… you know, what happened last time."

"I thought so too," Nagito said. "But it appears that the Steering Committee changed their mind."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Have Monaca enter the competition. I sense she has a great talent in her that just needs to shine, and what better opportunity was there than this."

"You can sense talent?"

"Something like that."

He examined the paper again; it didn't look like another trap… maybe it's a good idea to have Monaca enter the competition. The only problem would be getting her to do anything at all.

"I'll talk to Monaca about this. Thank you for telling me about this event."

"There's no need to thank me. I'm just doing my duty helping those with talent. I'll be taking my leave now."

"Don't you want to come in?"

"Oh no, no, I don't want to trouble you with my presence any longer. Have a nice day Makoto."

Nagito turned to leave, walking a few steps until he stopped.

"Ah, I almost forgot." He turned around to face him again. "Did you take anything from the house?"

"We took a duffle bag," he answered.

"And just that?"

"Yeah, just that. Why?"

"Nothing important, I just wanted to check. You can keep the bag by the way. I have plenty of spares."

Nagito walked away. That was odd, he was pretty sure they only took a duffle bag. Unless… Monaca took something else with her. He's going to have to question her when she's back to normal.

"Who was it?"

He turned; his dad was behind him.

"It was Nagito."

"Ah, your friend. Why didn't you let him in?"

"I asked but he declined, and I wouldn't really consider us to be friends…"

"Really? He seems like a nice kid."

His dad would change his tune if he knew about what happened at the house. Nagito had been visiting his parents when he and Monaca were "sleeping over" at his house. He hadn't told them the truth yet; he needed time to recover from the hardships he endured during their imprisonment.

"What's that in your hand?"

"It's a paper talking about a competition. I'm thinking of telling Monaca about it."

He could see the brightness in his dad's face disappear at the mention of her. His parents might be a little… distressed at Monaca's state if he was putting it lightly.

"Speaking of Monaca…" his dad said, looking more dejected than he had ever seen him before. "Can you come to the kitchen? We would like to discuss something with you."

"Uh, sure."

They headed towards the kitchen; inside his mum was already sitting at the dinner table. Much like his dad, there was a look of dejection on her face.

"Who was it dear?" his mum asked.

"It was that wonderful boy Nagito."

"Oh! Why didn't you invite him in Makoto?"

"He declined," he replied.

"That's a shame; I would have liked to hear more of his stories. He's quite talkative."

"Oh, I'm sure he is…"

"What was that Makoto?"

"Nothing."

His dad sat next to his mum while he sat in front of them. His parents fidgeted for a while, avoiding his gaze. Finally, his dad looked at his mum, and she gave him a nod.

His dad stared at him. "Son, I need you to be honest with us."

"Honest with what?" he questioned.

"A-Are we bad parents?" his mum said.

"What! No, why would you even say that?"

"It's just that our… our…"

His mother wailed out of nowhere, startling him. She placed her face into his dad's shoulder, sobbing as he tried to console her.

"Our precious Monaca became a failure!" his mum muffled out. "And it's all my fault!"

"No dear," his dad said. "It's _our_ fault."

"It's nobody's fault!" he cried out. "Trust me; this has nothing to do with parenting."

"Then what else could have caused her to become like this?"

It was times like these that he regretted keeping silent about the truth, but if he told them that would only complicate things. How would they respond if they knew that Nagito kidnapped them for three days, or that their adopted daughter had planned something awful underneath their notice?

He needed time to figure out what to say and when to say it, and this was definitely not the time.

"I don't know," he lied, "but what I do know is that you two are the kindest, most wonderful parents someone like me could have."

"I-Is that true…" his mum whimpered.

"It is. Monaca's lucky to have the best parents in the world."

His mum removed herself from his dad's shoulders. There was a tiny smile as she wiped away the tears.

"Now you're just exaggerating," his mum said. "But I feel a little better hearing that from our son."

"At least we know we haven't failed two of our children," his dad said, a small smile on his face as well.

"Yeah, so don't worry. I'll do something about Monaca."

He had no sure-fire plan, but he didn't need one. He'd just do what he's good at; talk things out until they reached an understanding.

And he's going to do it today.

* * *

Okay, maybe he needed more time to think things out.

His hand was inches away from knocking on the door, but he pulled it back every time. What if he made things worse? Could he even convince Monaca? It's not like she even pretended to take his advice to heart in the past, so his chances were pretty low already.

He took a deep breath; he needed to stay calm. If he didn't at least try he's going to clean up her room tomorrow, and he didn't know if he could handle cleaning for four hours again. Even if it failed he'd try again and again until his words got through to Monaca.

He knocked on the door. "Who is it?" the voice inside answered.

"It's me," he replied.

"What do you want? It's too early to feed me."

"I'm not here to feed you. I just want to chat."

"No thanks. I'm busy at the moment."

"Come on Monaca, that wasn't even a good lie. I promise I won't talk for long."

"The last time you promised something we got locked up in a room for three days."

"Okay, this time I really will keep it. Can you let me in, please?"

"… Fine. Come in."

He opened the door and turned on the lights. The first thing that caught his eye were the two garbage bags lying on the floor, proving that all of his cleaning was meaningless in the face of Monaca's hunger. She was still where she was a few hours ago, playing on her console with a blanket over her head.

"You have seven minutes," Monaca said, not even glancing at his location.

He walked to her and held the competition paper over her head. She made a quick glance at the paper before looking back at her console.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's a competition being held at Hope's Peak Academy," he replied. "Do you want to enter? It'll be a great way to show people your tal—"

"No."

"But aren't you getting bored playing video games all day?"

"Not really."

"Don't you have any dreams for the future?"

"Becoming the Ultimate Neet."

"You can't be the Ultimate Neet Monaca; that's already taken."

"Then I'll be the Ultimate Neet in Space."

"… Why don't we think of something a little more practical? How about becoming the Ultimate Engineer?"

Monaca sighed, placing down her console. She finally looked at him, an expression of disinterest plain on her face.

"What are you trying to pull this time Big Bro?"

"I'm trying to help you. You have so much talent and yet you're wasting it here doing nothing. You used to be driven in the past, even if it was for all the wrong reasons."

"You really need to make up your mind. First, you wanted me to stop being myself because 'I was hurting people with my actions,' but now you want me to go back to my old self?"

"I mean it would be great if you stopped trying to hurt people…"

"Sorry Big Bro, but Monaca's staying this way until the day she dies. Dreams are overvalued anyway; the majority of people don't achieve their dreams, so what makes me different? Once you become an adult you'll just work, and work, and work at an unfulfilling job until your muscles become weak and your memory starts to fail, and then you die. What's the hurry in rushing to such a sad fate?"

"Not everyone ends up like that Monaca. Yeah, there's a chance you might never achieve your dream, but you don't know unless you try."

"You're just too optimistic. Just leave me alone. Go out and enjoy your own life and leave me be."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I know for a fact that you have the drive to achieve whatever goal you set. It won't be easy for sure; you will absolutely hit a pitfall somewhere along the way. But as long as you keep the drive to continue on forward, no matter how hard it gets, you will grasp your dream."

Monaca's apathetic expression lessened; there was an intensity in her eyes that he hadn't seen for a long time. Did he do it? Had his words reac—

A sound rang out from Monaca's rear; the fire in her eyes dying as the noise diminished in volume.

"… Why do you have to be like this Monaca?"

She shrugged and went back to playing on her console. Now what? She made it very clear that talking it out would get him nowhere, but that was the only thing he was good at…

… Unless he took a different approach. "If you want people to act you gotta rile them up through any means necessary!" was something Monaca said to him a long time ago. Instead of giving her words of encouragement, he'd attack her pride by touching on a few of her triggers.

…

He definitely needed to stop hanging around her so often.

"You know Monaca," he said, "I think you're the smartest kid I've ever met."

"Are you trying to manipulate me through flattery?" she asked.

"Uh…"

"If you are keep going. I like it when people recognise how superior I am."

He cleared his throat. "Anyways, it's clear that you're a lot more mature than most kids."

"Indeed I am."

"But lately, I'm starting to doubt if you're as smart as I thought you were."

"… I don't think I like where this is going."

"Whatever happened to the whole take revenge on your family? You said that it was your life's goal, and yet here you are wasting away in this room."

Monaca cringed. "Please don't remind me of that. I was young and stupid back then. Honestly, how did I even think my plan would work? It's like what that creep rambled on about; hope will always triumph over despair, so why go through with something that was bound to fail? I'll just wait for them to die of old age."

"I guess that makes sense. Doing something of that magnitude would have been impossible for someone like you."

It was subtle, but her fingers twitched a bit in response to what he said.

"I didn't say that Big Bro," Monaca said, with a bit of that familiar venom in her voice. "Since your hearing has obviously been damaged I'll repeat what I said. There's no point in going through with my plan since it was bound to fail."

"So you're a quitter."

Monaca's fingers twitched again. This time it was noticeable.

"… So what if I gave up? I can live my life however I want."

"True. But I guess you're going to have to live with the fact that while you're here doing nothing, your family is out there enjoying their lives without a care in the world."

"I think you should stop talking Makoto."

His plan was working; Monaca's uncaring disposition was cracking bit by bit from his words. He just needed to push her a little bit more.

"But I guess it was for the best really. You may be smart, but you're still just a kid after all. A plan like that would have been way beyond the abilities of someone like you."

"Stop talking."

"Now that I think about it, none of your pranks seem to be thoughtfully planned out at all. You get caught most of the time, and when things don't go your way you blame others for your own failures. You talk big, but you're really all bark and no bite."

"I said stop talking."

"Your family will continue on with their lives without ever acknowledging your existence, but that's okay. What can you do against your family who's obviously better and smarter tha—"

"Shut up!"

Monaca threw the console at a nearby wall. If there was any doubt about whether his words had any effect on her well, he could just look at the dent that was too close for comfort. On her face was the most emotion he had seen from her in weeks; a death glare directed straight at him.

As strange as it sounded he felt relieved. This was the Monaca he knew; the girl who had the face of an angel but the mind of a demon.

"Get out."

And he should probably listen to her.

He maintained his composure under her glare, walking towards her and placing the competition paper in front of her.

"Give it a thought okay?" he said, and turned around to leave while trying to look as calm as possible. Once he was out and the door was closed did he let out the breath he was holding in.

… Did he go too far there? Even if it was necessary he felt it was harsh to say all of that to her. He'd have to make up to her tomorrow whether or not his plan worked out.

He headed to the living room, standing there crossed armed were his parents.

"Makoto, what was that sound just now?" his mum said.

"Well uh, I can explain…"

* * *

"Wakey wakey Big Bro… it's time to get up…"

"Ugh… give me five more minutes…"

"Oh for crying out loud…"

Something cold and wet splashed on his face, ending whatever nice dream he was having.

"What the— Couldn't you wait for five—"

He wiped the liquid off his face and opened his eyes. Peering down at him with a smile was Monaca, a revolver in her hand.

Now he was fully awake.

"Holy!" He leapt out of bed, placing his back against the wall as he eyed the little girl with the gun. "Put down the gun Monaca!"

Monaca giggled. "Now that's better!" she said. "You look so full of energy Big Bro."

"I said put down th—"

"Jeez, calm down Makoto. Have you already forgotten that this gun's a fake?"

She pointed the revolver at him and pulled the trigger. Instead of a bullet, a small spurt of water came out of the tip, landing at his feet and leaving a stain on the floor. He still flinched though.

"I modified the revolver we took from that creep's house into a water gun. Isn't that amazing?"

He didn't respond. He sighed and slumped down to the ground.

"Please don't scare me like that again… Wait. You're in a wheelchair."

"Why you're soooo observant. It took me all night, but I finally managed to rebuild my wheelchair. It's as good as new!"

Monaca lifted her hands off the armrests, and the wheelchair twirled on the spot… or it tried to anyway before it froze midway through its spin.

"… Almost that is."

She slammed a fist on one of the armrests, and the wheelchair completed its spin.

"How exactly can you do that anyway?" he asked.

"Monaca has several buttons inside her shoes," she answered, "that allows her to control the wheelchair remotely."

Huh, well that was interesting to know. Looks like Monaca was finally back to her old self. Now he didn't have to act as her caretaker.

… Wait a minute. She's _back_.

"What's with that look Makoto? Is something the matter?"

Oh no…

"Ah, I know! It's because Monaca's so cheerful after acting sooo gloomy for the past couple of weeks. It's too late to have any regrets now, especially since it's your fault y'know."

The grin on her face grew. Maybe it would have been better for him if she stayed lazy after all…

"So umm… Why did you wake me up?" he asked, getting up to his feet. "If it's about what happened yesterday then I'm really sorry for saying all of that. I'll make it up to you I promise!"

"Oh that," Monaca responded. "You don't need to apologise for anything Big Bro."

"… Wait really? You're not going to punish me or anything?"

"Oh don't be silly! If I did punish you it would alleviate some of the anger I'm feeling right now, and that would be bad for my productivity."

"Uh, Okay? So if you're not here to punish me then what?"

"I'm here to thank you Makoto, for bringing me back to my senses."

"Thank me?"

"Of course! I'm not heartless Big Bro; even I can say a simple thank you once in a while."

He examined the smiling girl. As much as he wanted to believe that this was just a simple thank you visit and nothing more, he knew that Monaca always had some ulterior motive whenever she's acting nice.

"That doesn't mean I agree with everything that you said. I still stand by the fact that the majority of people will die having achieved nothing in their life; their dreams crushed by the big boot called reality… But you're right; I can achieve anything I set my eyes on because I'm perfect and better than everyone else in the entire world."

"I don't remember saying anything like that."

"Really? I'm pretty sure you said something along those lines. Of course I might be mistaken, so why don't you repeat to me _exactly_ what you said yesterday."

… He decided that throwing his life away over a simple correction wasn't worth it. "Never mind."

"Good. As I was saying it was due to your…kind words that I realised my revenge plan still had a chance to succeed. So once again I must thank you, Big Bro, for reigniting the flames of vengeance inside my heart."

"You're welcome…"

"Mm-hmm. With that out of the way, let us discuss a guide on how to cause a familicide!"

He's getting far too comfortable hearing her say such dark stuff with so much positivity. Why couldn't she talk about something nice for once, like puppies?

"I'm not helping you hurt peo—"

"Now, now," Monaca interrupted, "it's not nice to interrupt people. Hear me out first before you make up your mind okay?"

Whatever plan she was thinking of someone was bound to get hurt, physically or emotionally. Still, he might as well hear what she's scheming this time than be left in the dark.

He walked and sat down on Komaru's bed, giving his full attention to the smiling girl.

"For the first step of my master plan I need to gain the attention of the Towa Group," Monaca said. "Thankfully for me that won't be any problem at all because—"

She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket.

"—of this. Here's a question for you Big Bro; how does this competition help me with my plan?"

"Is it because the Towa group are at that competition?" he answered.

"Ding ding ding! You are absolutely correct! A bunch of companies are sending their representatives to this competition, with one of them being my target. All I have to do is put on a show, and the chairman will be begging for me to visit him."

"Is that it?"

"Yes, for this part at least. The rest of the plan is still a work in progress. You see Big Bro; nobody gets hurt in my plan."

"I'm still not sure about helping you…"

"Then how about this; if you help me I'll be sure to take your concern for human lives into consideration."

For her benefit, the plan sounded safe so far. But this was coming from the mouth of Monaca. Anything she said was "safe" should be met with scepticism.

"What if your plan fails?" he asked.

"Oh, it won't. I checked online to scout out the contestants and none of them come even close to my abilities. I'm guaranteed to win first place."

"From the sound of things, it seems like you don't even need my help."

"You're right. Any help you can offer me would be minuscule for my plan. But there is one tiny little thing you can do for me."

"And that would be?"

"You're friends with that programmer right? The one who cries a lot?"

"Her name's Chihiro, and she doesn't cry that much."

"Yeah, I don't care. Are you friends with her or not?"

"I am."

"Excellent! Can you ask her to build me an A.I?"

"… Why exactly do you need an A.I?"

"So I can build an army of robots and wipe out all of humanity."

"…"

"Come on Big Bro I'm just joking! Turn that frown upside down! I just need a simple A.I that can learn and adapt to its surroundings."

"Do you really need an A.I of all things for your invention?"

"Nope, but it'll get me huge brownie points with the judges. Come on Big Bro, won't you help your poor little sister out with a favour? I've already promised that no one will get hurt."

"… Alright, I'll help you." He knew she was doing some slight manipulation but damn it, the puppy dog eyes gets him every time.

"Perf—"

"On one condition."

For a second he saw her smile falter a bit.

"You have to apologise to Chihiro."

"What? But why?"

"Don't you remember? You made her cry at the school event."

"Oh that. It's a bit late to apologise now don't you think? I'm sure she's forgotten all about it."

"Maybe she has, but that still doesn't mean you shouldn't apologise for what you said."

"So all I have to do is say sorry and you'll help me?"

"I don't want you to just say sorry; I want a full apology. It has to sound sincere too, so don't try and make it sound sarcastic. Can you at least do that for me?"

"… Fiiiine, I'll apologise to your friend. I'll give her such a good apology that she'll have no choice but to forgive me."

Monaca extended a hand towards him. He observed her for a moment, his mind thinking up of any sort of loopholes that she could take advantage of. Once he couldn't think of anything did he extend his own hand in return, and they shook hands in agreement.

"Then we have a deal," Monaca said. "Can we meet up with her tomorrow? I want my A.I to be finished as fast as possible."

"I'm pretty sure she's free, but I'll give her a call to check first."

"Good. You do that while I start ordering the parts."

She turned around and moved towards the door. There was something about her statement that bothered him though…

"Hey Monaca," he called out.

Monaca let out a sigh before turning to face him again. "What is it this time? Are you going to demand something from me again?"

"It's not that. I just want to ask you something. You said you were going to buy parts?"

"Yes, that's what I said five seconds ago."

"With money?"

"No, with Gacha tokens. Where are you going with this Makoto, aside from wasting my time?"

"… How much money are you spending?"

"Does it really matter? All you need to know is that I have enough money for whatever I need."

He was the one to sigh this time. "How much did you steal from Nagito?"

"What? Now, why would you accuse your poor little sister of such a crime?"

"Please don't try and lie to me Monaca. Nagito came by yesterday and from the sound of things we may have taken a little more than a bag."

"Oh please, he could be lying. Besides I could have gotten the money from somewhere else, like your parents."

"Really? You wouldn't mind if I ask them now would you?"

"I mean I might not _necessarily_ have gotten the money from your parents. I was just being hypothetical."

"Just drop the act already."

"Alright fine, I admit it. I may have taken a tiny bit of money from him."

"How much?"

"It's not a lot, just one million dollars."

"O-One million dollars?!"

"I know right? For a creep like him to proclaim he was rich I was expecting to take a lot more than one million dollars from his house."

"That's not the point! We have to return that money to him."

Monaca raised an eyebrow. "Why should I? It's my money now."

"No, it isn't. You stole it from him!"

"I didn't steal it; I found it lying around the house. Well technically lying inside of a sealed safe, but you get my point. And even if it does count as stealing he does kinda deserve it. I mean this was the same creep who locked us up in a room for three days, or have you already forgotten about that fact?"

"I haven't forgotten about it. But that doesn't give you the excuse to steal from him; you're not using that money."

If Monaca was trying to hide her annoyance during this talk then she failed. The smile plastered on her face dropped and was replaced with a scowl.

"Then how am I going to buy my parts now?!"

"You'll just have to find another way then."

"No! I refuse to comply with this unreasonable demand! That money was compensation for my mental health, and I'll be damned if I'm not allo—"

She stopped her tantrum, a look of realisation on her face. In a flash, the scowl was gone from her face and she was smiling at him again.

"On second thought you're right!" Monaca said. "I don't need to use my own money after all; I'll just get Big Sis Junko to buy the parts for me. You really should make it clear when you're joking Big Bro; you almost made me mad."

"I'm not joking about retur—"

"Y'know Makoto," Monaca cut in, "I don't think you quite understand the position you're in. You see Monaca is the one here who's graciously letting you in on her plan. She's even letting you make sooo many demands to keep you happy."

She approached him as she continued, "But it seems to me that you're trying to take advantage of my generosity. Now I could just be misunderstanding things, so I'm going to make it very clear to you about what's happening with the money. The money is staying with me and that's the end of it okay?"

She was right in his face now. The smiling girl may have sounded cheerful as she talked, but there was no mistake that she was threatening him underneath her words. She seemed intent on keeping the stolen money no matter what he said, so he relented.

"… Okay," he muttered out.

"That's a good boy," she replied, standing up from her wheelchair and giving him a pat on the head. "Now is there anything else you want to say?"

"No."

"Then it's time for me to go. Have a nice day Big Bro, and don't forget about tomorrow!"

He watched as she left the room, humming a song all the while. While her vicious streak was still intact she's at least somewhat listening to him. So long as he kept a close eye on her he'd be able to turn her around for the better…hopefully.

He took out his phone. If Monaca did receive her A.I, he hoped she's not going to use it for anything dangerous…

* * *

"Hmm, something's not right. Let's go through it one more time."

"What! What went wrong this time?!"

"You didn't clap hard enough."

"Oh come on… Can't you show off your invention now?"

"I would have an hour ago if a certain someone can just do a certain motion. We're going through it one more time, and this time I want to hear some power in your claps."

He groaned, and clapped once more with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. Hopefully, this would be enough to satisfy her. His body was getting stiff just sitting on this bed.

"Is that better?"

"…You don't need to go that hard just for clapping Big Bro. But I suppose it's satisfactory."

Monaca cleared her throat and began reciting her introduction. He wasn't really paying attention to her though; his attention was on something else.

That something was the object standing behind her, hidden underneath a white sheet. It was already covered by the time he entered Monaca's (his) room, but he could tell the object was big, almost the same height as him. He could also make out what he presumed to be ears poking out from the sheet.

This only intensified his curiosity and anxiety as to what Monaca had made. She managed to get her A.I after apologising to Chihiro two times. A second apology was needed since her first one somehow made her out as the victim instead of Chihiro, and so he forced her to start over. Once she got what she needed she locked herself up in her room for a week, only coming out to pick up the parts sent by Junko.

It was nice for Junko to help out with the competition. She was willing to buy whatever parts Monaca needed no questions asked, just as long as she got to look at the blueprints of Monaca's invention.

"—Are you listening Makoto?"

"Huh? Uh…"

"Well aren't you a great listener. Never mind; let's just go to the main event."

She moved to the side of the object, grabbing a part of the white sheet.

"Get ready to feast your eyes on my greatest creation yet!"

Monaca threw the white sheet off the object, and he finally got to see what the girl had made.

It was a bear.

"…"

"So what do you think Big Bro? It's beautiful, isn't it? There's no need to answer; Monaca can tell from your expression that you're shocked by its beauty!"

Well, she's right that he's shocked at what he's seeing. What was standing before him right now was a robotic teddy bear with an unusual design; aside from the snout and belly the bear's body was divided into two separate colours and appearances. The right half of the bear was white and looked just like a normal teddy bear, so he had no particular complaints about that side.

But the left half of the bear was where he started questioning Monaca's design choices. The left half was all black, with a red glowing eye that was shaped very similar to the Hope's Peak Academy logo. Underneath the snout was a half-formed smile that seemed anything but friendly to him.

He didn't know why, but something about this bear… irritated him for some reason.

"Umm…can I give you my honest opinion?"

"Sure thing! Go ahead and gush all you want about my invention!"

"I don't like it."

With a few words Monaca's expression went through a mix of emotions, from happiness to surprise to anger until it settled on what he called the "smiling but wants to kill you" expression.

"Oh? Now please do tell me what you don't like about it," she said. She sounded calm, but there were little hints of anger in her voice.

"I don't know. I just don't like it for some reason."

"So you hate Monaca's invention just because? Wow Big Bro, are you trying to hurt Monaca's feelings?"

"Even if I don't have a good reason for disliking it I have to say that the design choices you made are really questionable. Like why is the left side of the bear so sinister looking? Why is it a bear in the first place?"

"Ah Makoto, it seems your little mind can't comprehend the genius of this design. You see the design of the bear is a very important feature for its purpose."

"And what exactly is its purpose?"

"Surely you can guess it just from its design?"

"…Is it a mascot for a kids show?"

"…Well I mean you're not wrong that it's mascot material, but you're still off the mark! Come on, even a kid can tell what it's used for."

"…I really don't know."

"Damn it Makoto it's a domestic helper! Don't you even know a domestic helper when you see it?!"

"Please tell me how in the world is that a domestic helper?"

Monaca sighed and pointed to the right side of the bear. "I don't understand how you couldn't figure it out. You see this side represents the cute and cuddly side of bears; the side that calms you down and brings a smile to your face."

She then pointed to the left side of the bear. "And this side represents the dangerous side of bears; the side that reminds you that bears are big carnivorous animals that can rip you to shreds if you're not careful. The two sides of bears represented through such a simple design… it's genius!"

"I mean it's nice you put in so much thought for your design but…you didn't really answer my question."

"Listen if you have a problem with the design talk to Big Sis Junko. I didn't make it all up okay; I borrowed it from a sketch she made."

"No, it's okay. I guess I can see how it can be a…domestic helper in a way. Does it have a name?"

"A name? Of course it has a name. Its name is… Teddie!"

…Something about that name bothered him. It seemed Monaca agreed with him as well; as her happy demeanour had faded out by the time she placed a finger under her chin, confusion clear on her face.

"You know…that name sounded a lot better in my head," she said. "It doesn't feel right for some reason…"

"I agree," he said. "The name feels wrong. Can you think of any other names?"

"…Two-face."

"Still doesn't sound right."

"Ted."

"That's pretty much the first name."

"Winnie the Pooh."

"Are you trying to get sued?"

"Fine then! He's called Black and White Bear; because he's black on one side and white on the other! Happy now?!"

Monaca got up from her wheelchair and strolled over to him. She knelt down beside him and took out something from her (his) bed. She plopped down next to him on the bed; in her hand was a remote controller similar to those that control drones.

"Who cares about the design and name Big Bro? What's really important is what my invention can do."

Monaca moved one of the sticks on the remote up, causing one of the arms of the bear to move in turn. She pressed a button and claws appeared out of the uplifted hand of the bear, gleaming in the light of the room.

"Y-You added weapons to it?!"

"Duh, it's a bear. What, you wanted a bear _without_ claws? How can my invention be authentic to the real thing if it can't violently shred something apart? Anyways want to see how sharp they are?"

She took out a carrot from her pocket, positioning it with one hand in front of her head while she talked to the bear.

"Black and White Bear, attack this carrot please."

She flicked it and the raised arm of the bear came down, slicing the carrot into little ribbons that littered the floor of the room.

"Wow, look at how fast it cut down that carrot! Doesn't that make you excited?"

"Not really…"

"Then how about this. Black and White Bear, tell me a joke."

The bear didn't respond to her; it stood in its place as if she didn't say anything. Just when he thought it was broken the bear finally spoke in a voice that contained no emotion.

"How do you catch a fish without a fishing rod?"

"How?" Monaca responded.

"With your bear hands!"

The bear and Monaca laughed. He did not.

"Come on Big Bro, that was one of my best jokes. It's the voice isn't it? Don't worry; the voice now is just a placeholder until I can find a suitable one for it."

"It's not that. I'm still worried about the claws you put on it."

"Oh, just relax. The rules of the competition stated that it's perfectly okay to add claws to my invention."

"I really don't think you should add weapons to it." Especially if they were in the hands of a self-learning A.I and a girl with a severe lack of empathy.

"Jeez, do you have something against bears? Did a bear attack your family or something? The claws are just there for decoration, nothing more."

"But—"

"Trust me Makoto; everything is going to be fine. Did you know that you're more likely to be killed by lightning than by a bear? I'm sure no one is going to be mauled to death at the competition."

Monaca got up and sat back down in her wheelchair. She motioned to the door; guess it's time for him to leave. He still had some massive doubts on the safety of her invention, but surely no one would get hurt right?

"Three more days until the competition," Monaca said. "That's plenty of time for me to make some quick adjustments. You should also use those days to relax Big Bro. Stop worrying so much and look forward to what's coming."

"Yeah, you should be beary excited for my debut!" the bear said, causing the girl to giggle. He let out a sigh; this was going to be bad wasn't it?

* * *

I had to say, being outside after weeks inside a small stuffy room felt great! The sound of people around me chatting about useless things, the heat of the sun shining down on me, the constant paranoia of being killed by an assassin sent by Hope's Peak Academy, it's truly perfect…

I peeked at the stage again. Just how long was this girl going to talk? The host should do his job and get her off the stage so I could show everyone what a _real _show stopper looked like. I mean growing an entire body from a single cell seemed great and all, but was it a robotic bear? I rest my case.

"If she keeps talking for another hour Monaca's going to file a complaint."

"Give it time Monaca; I think she's almost done."

I turned to the voice next to me. My sla—

…Hmm, I guess at this point he's not really my slave. A slave's supposed to obey everything I told them no questions asked, and he had failed in that regard.

Was he a friend? No, not really. A friend as given in the dictionary was "someone who you know well and like, but who is not related to you." Now to me, a friend was someone who I had complete control over; someone who would do as I asked of them and never, ever betray me. Some would say that's no different from a slave, but let's agree to disagree!

Ah, I know what to call him. He's my servant. A pretty terrible one at that, but he gets the job done.

"She better be," I said to my servant. "Have you swept through the area again?"

"Yes, I did Monaca," my servant replied, letting out a sigh in front of me. "I'm telling you no one is out to get us."

"That's what _you_ think, but I like to consider other possibilities y'know. You just had to go tell the headmaster about what was happening at the orphanage, and now I'm checking my shoulder every minute so I don't get stabbed in the back."

"He said he'll be careful not to alert the Steering Committee."

"Oh, isn't that so encouraging. Why don't I take the word of a failed detective who got kicked out by his own family? Surely nothing could go wrong?"

I observed my surroundings again to check for any would-be killers. The backstage didn't contain any spots for a killer to hide in. The area was pretty empty aside from a few bundled-up tripods and theatre lights. The "competition" around me didn't look like they pose any threat; they were just a bunch of kids playing around as their guardians talked amongst themselves.

Of course, I shouldn't be careless just because they looked harmless. Maybe one of the adults in here was a trained assassin. Hell, maybe one of the kids was an assassin. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the Steering Committee had some child soldiers in their care. Lucky for me I came prepared with some safety measures…

I examined the object behind my servant. If anyone tried to attack me at this instant my invention would emerge from that white sheet and bam, dead in a second! I was quite proud of it, although I wish I had enough room to add in a bomb and an eye laser. Oh well, I guess the claws would have to suffice for now.

The sound of clapping could be heard from the stage. I took another peek; the kid and her guardian were walking towards me, carrying their humanoid abomination in a wheelbarrow.

"Now wasn't that quite the show!" the host cheered. "Never thought I would see a half-man half-lizard hybrid but hey, it's not the strangest thing I've seen in my life. But the shows not over yet folks! There may still be plenty of surprises left in store for us. Let's give a warm welcome to our next competitor!"

The host gestured towards us to move onto the stage. He sure knew how to get the crowd excited. Wearing a white sports coat that contrasted with his black pants, an earpiece in his ear along with sunglasses even though we were indoors, he stood out among the crowd of drab suits attending the show. I must applaud the headmaster for hiring a good host; perhaps he's not as useless as I thought.

"Let's go Big Bro; it's time for my big debut!"

"Just don't try and cause any more trouble here please."

"Stop worrying so much. What can possibly go wrong here?"

I moved forward, my servant following close behind as he pushed the trolley holding my invention. The audience clapped when we emerged from the curtain and onto the stage.

"What's your name young girl?" the host asked.

"Monaca is called Monaca!" I answered. "And over here is my Big Bro Makoto!"

"Hello everyone…" my servant said, giving a little wave at the crowd. He didn't even pretend to sound enthused!

"Your friend doesn't sound so happy to be here."

"Oh, he's just a little nervous that's all."

"I see. And what wonderful invention are you going to present to us Monaca?"

I surveyed the audience in front of me; there was quite a crowd of suits sitting inside the gym, but it didn't take me long to find my targets. The Towa Group representatives were at the front; the perfect place for them to see me in all my glory.

There was someone else that caught my eye though. Near the very back there was a blonde woman in a brown trench coat and fedora, her face covered with a hygiene mask and black-tinted glasses. She stood out like a sore thumb; had I seen her somewhere before…?

Ah, whatever. She's probably someone insignificant that I saw on the street.

"Can I say something before I present it?"

"Go ahead."

I cleared my throat. "Imagine that you were a little kid again, full of energy and big dreams for the future. 'I'm going to be a professional baseball player!' you told everyone, and for your early years, you worked hard to achieve that dream no matter what. Even if no one believed that you could do it; even if your family told you to give up, you kept going until finally…you did it. You're at the big leagues playing against the best the world has to offer. 'Suck on that!' you thought, against everyone who had doubted you.

"But then things started to change. You start noticing that your pitches are getting slower. Your rest breaks are getting longer and longer. You're forgetting things more often…soon enough your own team realises what's happening and they kick you out for someone younger. Now you're living by yourself, alienated by your family and friends with no one to care for you, looking back on your glory days as you wait for the sweet embrace of death…"

My little story was working; nobody in the audience was looking at their phones or checking their watches. They're all focusing on me with curiosity in their eyes.

"So that's why I came up with a brilliant invention! Show them Big Bro!"

My servant dragged the sheet off my invention, revealing the bear to everyone. From the confused looks on the audience, I could tell that they were clearly entranced by the beauty of my design.

"…Is that a bear?" the host asked.

"Yep!" I answered. "He's also a robot as well!"

"Well I…don't know what to say. I could have never guessed that it was a bear—"

"_Robot_ bear."

"—A _robot_ bear underneath the curtain. What does it do?"

"Surely you can guess from looking at it?"

"…Is it a mascot for a kids show?"

Why did everyone keep giving me that answer?

"Close, but no. It's a domestic helper, designed to help out those who can't take care of themselves."

"Interesting! Does it have a name?"

…Hmm. I did have a name now thanks to Big Sis Junko, but I felt the name Monokuma didn't exactly fit with my invention. If I was going to commercialise it then it needed a name that's catchy…

Oh, I know what to call it!

"Its name is Kumadachi!"

"What the fuck!?"

We all turned our attention to the blonde woman at the back.

"Uh…I mean what the fuck, why didn't I think of that?"

The blonde woman laughed a little. Everyone turned their attention back to me. I could have sworn she sounded like Big Sis Junko…

"Anyways," the host said, "was there any reason as to why you made it look like a bear?"

"Well I mean who doesn't like bears?" I said. "They're cute and cuddly. There are more reasons as to why I made it look like a bear, but it's not really important."

I focused my attention on the audience. "The important part is what it can do. We all don't want to be a burden to others, but the unfortunate reality is that with age comes a variety of health problems. Sooner or later we will become so old that we can't even go to the toilet by ourselves. Who here wants someone to change their underwear for them?"

Several members of the audience shook their heads. Now that they had recovered from the shock of seeing my brilliant invention they were paying close attention to me again.

"Nobody wants another human to change their underwear; it's humiliating. That's why I created my little helper here; he'll obey your every order without any of that pesky human emotion. That doesn't mean you can't converse with him every now and then."

I motioned to my servant to bring the controller underneath the bear. He handed it over and I placed it on my lap while I talked to the bear.

"Hey Kumadachi, tell me a joke."

"Why did the bear dissolve in water?" the bear asked, his voice no longer monotone and lifeless. Thanks to Big Sis Junko's voice acting the bear sounded more like a cartoon character.

"Why?"

"Because it was polar!"

"See, he can tell puns. He has over one hundred thousand bear puns installed in his memory and can learn even more due to his self-adaptive AI. But wait, there's more!"

I pressed a button and claws popped out of the bear. "He's also good for self-defence. Someone's trying to rob you? Just say the word and your new best friend here will happily solve such a problem. Of course, if you don't trust the AI to handle it you can always take control with this handy thing."

I held up the controller for the audience to see and began to play around with the various sticks and buttons on it. With a couple of quick movements, I made my invention move off the trolley to stand next to me.

"With a little bit of practice controlling Kumadachi will become as easy as breathing."

To demonstrate my point further I took a carrot out of my pocket. Just as I had shown to my servant I moved one of the sticks on the controller up, raising one of the arms of the bear. I flicked the carrot towards the bear and pulled the stick down at the right moment, leaving nothing but tiny shreds of the carrot lying on the floor. I glanced at my targets; they were still focused on my performance, but now they were starting to write down notes.

It's almost enough to make me jump from joy. Finally, after years of waiting my dearest wish to meet my family was close to becoming a reality. I'd meet my real father, he'd welcome me back with open arms, and I'd repay him by destroying everything he had built over the ye—

"Hey, you!"

My happy daydream was ruined by a shout nearby. I looked and from the other side of the stage emerged a teenager, and judging by how he was staggering and swaying around he was drunk. From his clothes, I recognised he was a "student"—if you could even call them that—from the Reserve Course.

"Um, are you talking to Monaca?" I asked.

"Yeah you little shit!" the annoying drunk responded. "I haven't forgotten what you did!"

"I'm sorry, have we met before?"

"Don't act like you don't know! I almost got eaten by a lion at that event!"

Now that he mentioned it I think I did know what he's rambling on about. Why are people still holding a grudge against me for something I did months ago? Hadn't they heard the saying forgive and forget? Most importantly where's security? You'd think getting a gym blown up would have Hope's Peak beef up security but then this happens. If they had done their jobs this pest wouldn't be here ruining everyth—

…Wait. Perhaps I could benefit from this situation…

"Let's all give John here a huge round of applause!" I shouted, and started clapping. The audience, my servant and the host looked confused, but they followed my lead and started clapping as well.

"Uh…what?" the drunk said, standing where he stood looking as confused as everyone else.

"My friend here is a Reserve Course student wishing to become the Ultimate Method Actor. I gave him the role of a student who had fallen on hard times, and he gave such a good performance I couldn't help but clap. Wouldn't you agree, Mister Host?"

"Uh, y-yeah!" the host replied. "He's giving such a good performance I thought he was legitimately drunk."

"I'm not acting!"

"And for John's next act he will be playing the role of a criminal attacking a poor, innocent little girl who did nothing wrong."

"You damn brat! If that's what you want that's what you're going to get!"

The drunk actually charged at me. People could be so stupid sometimes.

"Kumadachi attack!"

With speed you wouldn't expect from a bear made of steel my invention tackled the drunk to the ground before he could reach me. The drunk tried to push it off him, but he, unfortunately, did not have the strength to lift a metric ton bear.

"Get the hell off me!" the drunk shouted.

"You're doing a great job there John; I can really feel your anger!"

"My name's not John damn it! It's—"

"Let's give another round of applause!"

We all started clapping again at the drunk's "act." The drunk continued his useless struggle against the bear and swung his fist at it. The bear caught it with one hand while the other was still pinning the drunk down.

"Hey! Did you hear about the guy whose left side was cut off?" the bear asked. "I hear he's all right now."

"What does that have to with anyth—"

The bear began to pull on the drunk's caught arm, eliciting several yelps of pain from the boy.

"W-Wait! I give up! I give up okay!"

The bear didn't seem to care; he kept on pulling and pulling. Well, it was fun but I guess it's time to put a stop to this.

"Alright, Kumadachi that's enough. Let go of the nice boy."

…The bear kept on pulling. The drunk was starting to scream now, but that wasn't really important at the moment.

"Somebody help me! He's ripping off my arm!"

"Uh, little miss, I think you can stop with the act now…" the host said. I could hear noises coming out of his earpiece. I took my eyes off the scene to glance at the audience; they looked pretty uncomfortable at the moment.

"Let go of the boy Kumadachi."

My invention still didn't listen. Hmm, how strange. I was sure that I programmed him to obey the Three Laws of Robotics. Then again I did only implement the second law, and that law only applied to me and me alone. Good thing I still have the controller here. I was just going to move this and that and everything should be all—

—annnd it did nothing. I moved all the sticks and pressed all the buttons and the stupid bear still didn't back off. What's wrong with this damn thing! It was working perfectly just a minute ago so why did it break now of all times?!

…Oh. I think I knew why. I checked the back of the controller and my suspicions were confirmed. The light at the back was off; the batteries were out of power.

"…Say Mister Host, you wouldn't happen to be carrying high-voltage batteries would you?"

"Ah, crap…security! We have an emergency over here!"

* * *

"I should have known something like this was going to happen."

"Hey, don't blame me. If that idiot hadn't gone up the stage he wouldn't have lost an arm today."

"Your little sister is right! It's not my fault; I'm just an innocent bear following his programming."

The bear laughed as he continued to push my wheelchair towards my servant's home. My servant groaned.

"You stop talking. That guy went up the stage in the first place because of what you did Monaca. Maybe you should take it as a lesson; you know like think twice before you act or what comes around goes around."

"Monaca will be sure to take this lesson to heart Big Bro."

He didn't look so convinced. Why didn't he believe me? I made sure to put in an equal measure of sarcasm and sincereness in those words. I didn't believe in karmic justice of course, because if it did exist I would be dead a long time ago. I did believe in thinking long term, and so from now on I had to make sure to be more thorough in covering my acts.

"I sure hope so… It's surprising that you even won a trophy despite what happened."

He held up that trophy in his hands as he walked. Augh, I wanted to reach out and throw it right in the trash. I should have started with a sob story instead. I mean not getting first place was already insulting enough, but winning third place instead of second place?

"I should have won first place," I said.

"Monaca your invention ripped a boy's arm out and fought over fifty guards," my servant said. "If that girl didn't regrow his arm you would have been in big trouble. Just be grateful you won something."

I would be grateful to not get it in the first place was what I wanted to say, but I stopped myself. I shouldn't get angry over something as trivial as this. After all the competition was rigged from the start, that's why I didn't come in first place. Besides, I completed what I set out to achieve. All that's left to do now was wait.

We kept on moving towards his home. He tried to hand me the trophy, but I shook my head.

"You keep it Makoto."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course! You deserve a reward for your efforts." And I wasn't saying that because I didn't want to see it in my line of sight, not at all.

"But I didn't do anything."

"But of course you did. Who was the one who made me restart my plans for revenge? Who was the one who introduced me to one of the best programmers in the world? It was you."

"Those were small contributions."

"Even the smallest of contributions can have a big effect. Come on Big Bro, give yourself some self-respect."

He hesitated, but my servant pulled the trophy away from me. He was turning the trophy around with a smile on his face.

I examined my servant from top to bottom. Makoto Naegi, my "big brother." At first, I thought he was nothing more than a boring and generic tool that I would throw away when I was done, but now I've taken an interest in him. Who in their right minds would continue to associate with me after learning about what I had planned on that rooftop? Something must be very wrong with him in the head; I should take him to a therapist sometime.

Everything I had seen so far pointed to him being a genuine kind-hearted individual and by extension his family as well. They seemed to have no plans to sell me out; a bit of a missed opportunity if you asked me.

But despite all of the evidence pointing out that I may be wrong in my judgement…a part of me still doubted him. Yes, it was stupid really considering how long I'd spent with him, but I couldn't shake off the thoughts that maybe I was being manipulated, that he's just waiting for me to drop my guard. If it does appear to be that then congratulations, he's out manipulated me.

And if he was the genuine article, how far could I push him and get away with it? What would make him finally put down his foot and say that's enough? If attempted suicide didn't faze him perhaps murder would instead? So many possibilities, I was getting excited!

…But I should play it safe for now. Maintaining a good relationship with my servant was a priority. My servant's bonds with his friends were a redeeming quality of his, and through him, I gain access to some powerful and influential people. I play my cards right and I'd be set up for life with so little effort.

"Hey, Big Bro. How many stickers do you have now?"

"Uh, eighteen I think?"

"Well, now you have twenty. Congratulations Big Bro, you won a reward from me!"

"What did I win?"

"You get to punch me once in the face! If you ever find yourself in a bad mood you can come to me and knock me across the room."

"I don't want a reward like that!"

"Yeah, you're right. You probably can't even knock out a fly with arms like that. Then how about I sharpen up your manipulation skills? Agitating me out of my apathetic phase was an effective technique, but you need to be a bit more subtle about it. Under my guidance, you'll be the second-best manipulator in the world!"

"I don't want to be a master manipulator."

"Aw, but you have so much potential. Give it a try Big Bro. You might even like it."

"No."

"How disappointing… oh well. I guess I'll bake you some cookies instead. I won't put anything weird inside this time I promise."

"Really now…"

"Yes, really. Consider this as a token of my gratitude. As long as you stay the way you are I'll keep on being a good little girl."

… Probably.


	9. Chapter 9

Monaca Towa meets her family.

By the time he had finished reading, he was at his boiling point. That bitch! She tricked him!

He tore up the letter again and again and again until he couldn't anymore. Even though the letter had been reduced to nothing more than scrap on his desk his anger still remained.

She abandoned him. After everything he and his company had done for her, she turned tail and fled once she got what she wanted. He couldn't even take legal action against her; the people she was with now had power he would not dare fight against.

He got up from his chair. He needed to cool down his head fast else he might do something he would regret. He walked fast out of his office, locking the door once he was out. From his position, he peered down at the floor below.

Nobody was around, not even the cleaners. Good, it would damage his reputation if his workers saw him in this state. He continued on, going through door to door to reach the main stairway. He walked down the stairs and continued on his path until he was at the entrance of Towa Hills.

All he wanted to do now was exit through this door and get a drink, but that woman left something of hers behind in her former room.

He stepped away from the entrance and entered one of the rooms located on this floor. He walked some more until he was facing a ladder that led to that woman's room.

He scowled. Whose bright idea was it to decide that the best way to enter a room was by climbing a ladder? He would have fired the architect of this design if he had not already done that.

He climbed the ladder. One of these days he was going to restructure Towa Hills to get rid of all these bloody ladders. As he got closer to the top he could hear it, the sound of a baby crying.

He reached the top and moved through the passage to enter the main room. He examined the room around him; the shelves and floors around him used to be cluttered with books and notes, but now they were empty.

He stared at the corner of the room; there was a double bed and a crib next to it. He approached the crib and peered down.

The baby was tossing around in its crib, crying out for a mother that had abandoned her. Where was that nanny he hired to look after this child? He was going to have to fire her tomorrow. He hesitated, but he eventually picked up the baby.

"Shhh…be quiet," he said, rocking the baby in his arm. Was he doing this right? Normally he would not waste his time on this, but if it stopped the baby's incessant cries he had no choice.

The baby stopped crying. It was giggling at him, reaching up with its arms in an attempt to touch his face. Its existence was a mistake; a baby born not from love but from a moment of passion with a woman he felt no real love for. Had he known that woman was going to leave him he wouldn't have let it into this world.

Still, he felt some pity for it.

He had two options to deal with it. He could keep the child in his family and let it be raised by his servants. That would, however, meant that whenever he saw it he would be reminded of that woman's existence, and of this day…

…Or he could send it to an orphanage, cut ties with it immediately and let it be someone else's problem.

Yes, that option was perfect. Hope's Peak also ran an orphanage, didn't they? An orphanage supposedly considered the best in the world. He'd send her there instead of the orphanages in Towa City. People would be less likely to find out the child was related to him.

And if he was not mistaken, that woman should be nearby the area. Maybe fate would reunite the woman with her bastard child. He smiled, served her right if it does happen.

It's decided. Tomorrow morning he'd have one of his servants drop the baby off at Hope's Peak Orphanage. He'd also have his son replace that woman's position in the robotics branch, and erase all documents of her having worked for the Towa Group.

He tried placing the baby back into its crib, but it was clinging onto his necktie.

"Let go," he said. He tried forcing the baby's hand off his tie but stopped when it looked like it was going to cry. He'd have to wait for the baby to fall asleep before he could leave. He sat down on the bed. What was the name that woman gave it…?

"Sleep Monaca," he whispered. He continued to rock the baby in his arms.

* * *

The first thing he noticed upon waking up was how heavy his body felt.

"What the…"

Another thing he noticed was that something large was underneath his bedsheets. He checked under the covers and saw a pair of beady, soulless eyes staring at him from the darkness.

He screamed. The bear screamed.

"Get off me!"

He tried to escape from the bear hug but it was no use; its grip on him was too tight.

"What's the matter Makoto?" the bear said. "Don't you want a hug from your dear old pal?"

"No!"

"Just accept it. I'm just like taxes; no matter how hard you fight you'll never get rid of me!"

He struggled even more to get out. He knew it was pointless given what he saw this bear did to the average person, but he really didn't want to give the bear any satisfaction.

"Oh how nice. The two of you are the best of friends already!"

He glanced at the door while he struggled. Monaca was there watching what was happening, and as usual, there was a smile plastered on her face.

"We're not just friends!" the bear shouted. "Our bond is much more special than to be labelled as just 'friends.' It's something greater, more wondrous than all of the seven natural wonders of the world… In fact, it defies human comprehension that not even the best lexicographer can find an adequate word to describe it!"

"Can you get this bear off me Monaca?!"

"But you look like you're having so much fun."

"Please!"

"Alright, alright, calm down. Kumadachi let go of Makoto."

It took a moment for the bear to let go, but when it did he scrambled as far away as possible from it. He took in deep lungfuls of air as he watched the bear get up from his bed. At least it didn't try to rip off his arm.

"Did you set this up Monaca?" he said.

"Really now?" she said. "Are you going to blame every little incident on me? My hands are clean here, isn't that right Kumadachi?"

"Sure is!" the bear said. "It wasn't her, the government or the Illuminati; this whole shebang was run by yours truly."

"You hear that Big Bro? I'm perfectly innocent."

It was always a gamble trying to tell whether or not she's lying, but this time he's about ninety-five percent sure she's telling the truth right now.

"Okay, I believe you. But can you do something about the bear?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know; restrict its freedom or something?"

Monaca looked shocked. "How could you say such a thing Makoto!? I believe that every intelligent lifeform deserves the right to liberty."

Okay, now she was definitely lying to him.

"Yeah what's the problem!? I deserve the right to bear arms too ya know?"

"I'm not asking you to remove its free-will, maybe just…give it some rules to follow so that something like this never happens again."

"Now I would looove to help you with that. But unfortunately for you, the AI has developed quite far from its initial programming. Changing the code right now would more than likely cause some unexpected problems. Even your programmer friend would have trouble going through the code."

Monaca turned her attention to the bear. "I hope we haven't hurt your feelings Kumadachi."

"You don't have to worry boss. After all, I don't have real emotions anyway, 'cause I'm a bear."

"That's good! Now would you kindly go and make everyone breakfast please?"

"As you command boss!"

The bear gave a salute and walked off, leaving just the two of them in the room.

"Are you sure you can't do anything about it?"

"I am absolutely, positively, utterly sure that I can't do anything about it. I don't know why you have such an irrational dislike for Kumadachi, but you should really try and get over it. Once the Towa Group hires me they'll be in people's homes, on TV, out in the streets; a symbol of a bright new future! Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

"Sounds dreadful to me…"

"Oh, why are you such a killjoy Makoto? I thought you were supposed to be the hopeful one. But I'm sure you'll change your mind once you hang around Kumadachi long enough. I mean you see the positive side in eeeeverything, surely you can find at least one good thing about my invention?"

* * *

"Here you go Missus Naegi, one tasty salmon for you to enjoy!"

The bear wearing the apron plopped the dish in front of his mum. The dish consisted of a single large salmon, deep-fried beyond recognition. Scattered underneath it were uneven pieces of lettuce cut by the bear's own claws. All five members of his family had the exact same dish, just with different proportions of salmon.

"Thank you Kumadachi," his mum said. She cut out a piece of salmon and ate it. "Wow, this taste pretty good!"

"Why thank you," the bear said. "I made sure to put in my beary best in creating these dishes."

He poked the salmon in front of him with a fork. All the bear did was grab five salmons and threw them into a container of cooking oil. How the bear got the five salmons and a container of oil in the first place was a mystery that would never be solved.

His dad soon after ate a piece of salmon as well. "Huh, it actually doesn't taste that bad. You know Monaca I had some doubts about your bear friend here, but he really is pretty useful."

"Monaca's so glad to hear that!" Monaca responded. "It's reassuring to know that there are people who can appreciate what Monaca made, unlike someone she knows. On a scale of one to ten, how satisfied are you with my product Mister Naegi?"

"I'd say…an eight."

"Not bad. How about you Missus Naegi?"

"A perfect ten!"

"Wow! Thank you so much! What about you Big Sis?"

"Uh…I give it a seven I guess?"

"And you Big Bro?"

"…Four."

Monaca sighed. "Of course you would give it a low score."

"Don't you feel that's a bit harsh Makoto?" his mum asked. "You might've hurt Monaca's feelings."

"I don't mind Missus Naegi. Big Bro here has a bit of an issue with Kumadachi."

"And it breaks this poor bear's heart…" the bear said, staring down at the ground with a dejected expression. "I thought we were blood brothers Makoto…"

"We aren't."

"Don't be sad Kumadachi," his mum said, patting the bear on the head. "Even if Makoto doesn't see you as a blood brother you still have a place in our family."

"I-I do?"

"Yes. No matter what anybody says I see you as the official sixth member of our family."

The bear cheered up immediately, and soon after his mum was wrapped around in a bear hug. She was surprised at the sudden embrace, but she returned the hug with a smile.

"Oh, you're the best Missus Naegi! I'll be the best son you never had!"

"I'm right here you know."

"The _second _best son you never had!"

…This felt wrong. Everything about this felt very wrong. His mind, body, and spirit were screaming at him that this was never supposed to happen in any timeline. This bear shouldn't be hugging his mum at this very moment, but that was what was happening in front of his very eyes. Had the world gone mad? Was the sky going to fall? What other disaster was going to befa—

"… Are you okay Makoto?"

He snapped out of his daze. "Huh? Uh, yeah I am."

"Are you sure?" Komaru asked. "You didn't respond when I called out to you a few times."

"Yeah…everything's fine…"

The doorbell rang. The bear let go of his mum. "I'll get it!"

He leapt to his feet. "Actually, why don't I get it?" He didn't want to give whoever was at the front door a heart attack upon seeing the bear.

"Now, now, there's no need to trouble yourself. Just let your good pal Kumadachi get the door for ya."

"I don't mind really. It'll only take a second."

"Well, a second is too long in my opinion! Please, sit down."

"No."

"Can one of you get the door please?" Monaca said. "We wouldn't want to keep our visitor waiting now."

"Listen to your cute little sister. I'll go get the door while you can just sit right here with your family."

"And I'm telling you it's fine."

The doorbell rang again. "Why are you two even arguing about this?" Monaca asked. "Since you're so keen to open the door you can go Makoto. You stay here Kumadachi."

The bear seemed agitated, but it stayed where it was. He got up from his seat and headed to the front door. He opened it and was greeted by a man in a suit.

"Is this the Naegi residence?" the man said.

"It is," he replied. "Is there something I can help you with?"

The man reached inside his suit and pulled out an envelope. "I'm here to deliver a letter to Monaca Naegi. Would you mind delivering it in my stead instead?"

"Yeah sure, no problem."

"Thank you. Have a nice day."

The man gave him the envelope and hurried off down the street. He examined the front of the envelope; it was blank. Despite that, he had a pretty good guess on who sent it. He went back to the kitchen.

"Who was it?" his mum asked as he sat at the table.

"Don't know. A businessman I guess," he replied. "He wanted to hand this envelope to Monaca."

He passed the envelope in his hand to her. She looked at the front. "Really? It doesn't say it's for me."

"Well, that's what the man said."

"If you say so."

She opened the envelope and took out a folded letter. She opened that up as well, and whatever was on it made her look even giddier than she was now.

"What does it say?" his dad asked.

Monaca cleared her throat. "Dear Monaca Naegi. We at the Towa Group were very impressed with your invention at the Hope's Peak competition, and are excited to say that the head of our company, Tokuichi Towa, invites you to Towa City! It would be a great honour for us if you can visit! For any further questions please call the number below."

"Can you believe this dear!? Our daughter just got invited by one of the biggest companies in the world!"

"I sure can. There was never a doubt in my mind that our children were going to be successful in life."

"Oh as if. If you did you wouldn't have been so worried when Monaca went through her rebellious phase."

"Isn't it just natural for a parent to worry about something like that? I mean when we were teenagers you had a very dangerous rebellious phase. Let me tell you something kids; when your mum was at your age she did all sorts of—"

His dad stopped when his mum glared at him.

"Let's not bring my past up okay _dear?_"

"Y-Yes honey…"

His mum stopped glaring." Now then, do you want to go to Towa City Monaca?"

"Absolutely Missus Naegi!"

"Then Makoto and Komaru will be coming with you."

"Wait, I'm going as well?" Komaru said.

"You're on break at the moment, right? Why not use this chance to go visit the island of the future?"

"Well, I'm not really interested in technology…"

"Even so you should still go. This is your best chance to experience new things and make some unforgettable memories! Once you're at our age you won't get many opportunities to visit new places. Plus I heard there are tons of delicious sweets in Towa City!"

"When you put it that way I guess I have to go."

"That's my girl. Now how about we have a party to celebrate this occasion?"

"We don't have much food though…" his dad said.

"Never fear Mister Naegi!" the bear said. "Let me, your dependable son, handle such a matter!"

"I don't think that's a—"

The bear ran out of the room before he could finish speaking. The sound of the front door being slammed open and shut rang through the house.

"D-Do you think he'll be okay out there…" his dad asked.

"Oh he'll be fine," Monaca said. "Kumadachi can protect himself."

"I'm more worried about the people outside actually," he said.

"Can I go to my room Missus Naegi? I need to call them to make arrangements for our visit."

"Sure thing."

Monaca left them and went off to her (his) room, leaving her half-eaten salmon lying there on the table.

"I'm going to go talk to her if that's okay with you mum," he said.

"But you haven't eaten your salmon yet."

He looked at his plate. Compared to everyone else's his salmon was tiny, more a meal for a kitten than a human.

"I'll eat it once I talk to her."

"Fine, but don't take too long. We need to set things up for the party."

He nodded and followed after Monaca. She was about to open the door to her (his) room when he reached her.

"Shouldn't you be eating with your family?" Monaca said. "What do you want?"

"I just want to talk."

"We can talk after I make this call."

"It'll only be for a short while."

"… Just don't take too long alright? Lock the door once you're inside."

She opened the door and went inside. He went in as well and locked the door just as she asked. The curtains in the room were still covering the windows, letting only a dim light through.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Monaca said, standing up from her wheelchair. She stretched her legs and started pacing around the room.

"How are you feeling?"

"That's it? I thought this was going to be important. Well since you asked I'm positively ecstatic! The day I've been waiting for has finally arrived and I can now begin stage two of my plan, although I am annoyed at how they misspelled my name."

She tossed the invitation letter at him. He grabbed it and opened it up to see what the problem was.

"It's not that big of a deal. Monaka Naegi is close enough."

"No, no, no, you don't understand. The c in my name makes it cuter."

"Okay… so aside from that, you're happy?"

"Yep. How else am I supposed to feel? My dream of reducing Towa City and my family to rubble is so close to becoming true!"

And that was what he really came to check up on. She's still hell-bent on taking revenge on her family. He had some hope that the letter might never come at all due to what happened at the competition, but luck was never really on his side.

"You promised that you wouldn't hurt people if I helped you."

"Is that so? All Monaca remembers is that she said she'll take people's lives into consideration."

"Monaca…"

"Oh alright, don't give me such a scary look Big Bro. I'll evacuate the city and then destroy it."

"You're missing the point. I don't want you destroying Towa City and hurting innocents just to get back at your family."

She stopped moving. "Then what do you suggest I do then? Don't tell me to drop my revenge because that's never, ever gonna happen, Big Bro. Give me some other alternative that will satisfy me and you."

"…I don't know."

"Then I guess some people are going to get hurt."

He didn't know what to do here. He's not one to force someone to do something but at this rate, he might have to with Monaca. This would no doubt strain their relationship if not ruin it forever, but she just seemed so incapable to understand that hurting people was simply wrong.

But at the same time, he felt that he should trust her to make the right choice in the end. Surely all that time spent with him had some positive effect on her…

So what was he going to do? Was he going to try and put a stop to this plan right now or just hope for the best?

"Then… Then how about we have a bet?"

"A bet?"

"If your family proves to be decent people then you'll have to drop your revenge plan."

"And if they aren't?"

"Then…you can do whatever you want to them, but only them and no one else."

Monaca looked surprised. Heck, he's surprised at himself for what he was suggesting.

"How intriguing. I never thought you would make a bet like that."

"So is it a deal…?"

"… Sure, sounds fun! But do you really want to make a bet like that?"

No, he really didn't want to make this bet. He had made many bets in his life and lost around ninety-nine percent of them. The remaining one percent where he won caused more trouble for him than it was worth. He was more than likely going to lose this bet.

For just this one bet he wished to whatever being controlled his foul luck to make an exception this time. Even if it resulted in him experiencing the worst day in his life over and over for the rest of time he'd take it, just get Monaca to drop her plan and move on with her life.

"I do," he said. "Please… promise me that you won't hurt them if they're good people."

"Don't worry so much Big Bro!" Monaca said. "I only keep promises that are worth keeping. I'll even make a pinky promise with you!"

She raised her pinky at him. This felt awfully familiar…

"Raise your other hand."

"Okie-dokie!"

She raised her other hand, palm opened for him to see. Now she wouldn't be able to cross her fingers behind her back. Whether or not that's going to help…

He held up his pinky as well. "Do you promise to not hurt your family if you lose the bet?"

"Yep! Cross my heart and hope they die! Whoops, I mean hope _I_ die of course."

He wrapped his little finger around hers. Even though he really wished he could fully believe that Monaca's family were not so bad, he couldn't risk it. He needed to come up with some sort of plan if the worst possible scenario happened.

"Is that all you wanted to say? I really need to call them so I can start preparing."

"I'd like to stay and listen if you don't mind."

"Fine by me."

Monaca took out her phone and dialled in a number. He sat down at his former desk and listened as she talked to whoever was on the other end, keeping a close eye on what she was saying.

* * *

"Remember kids, if a stranger's approaching and you feel as if you are in danger, always—"

"Run," he replied. "We know mum."

It was only a day after Monaca received the invitation and they were already going to Towa City. He and Komaru were bringing only their wallets, while Monaca was bringing her schoolbag with her.

"We're just making sure," his dad said. "We don't want a repeat of what happened with Monaca."

"Don't worry Mister Naegi," Monaca said. "I have Big Bro and Big Sis here to protect me!"

"Even so you should be careful. If you're by yourself run away from the danger and call for help."

"Monaca will keep that in mind."

His dad checked his watch. "Better get going now kids. You don't want to miss your train."

"Make sure to have fun!" his mum said. "And don't forget to buy some souvenirs. Especially the sweets, don't forget them."

"We won't mum," Komaru said.

"Don't forget to buy something for me as well!" a voice cried out.

He glanced at the living room; the bear was lying on their couch watching the TV, throwing in mouthfuls of popcorn from the bucket in its hands. It had been binge-watching gangster shows and movies during their party yesterday. From the piles of DVD's nearby, it's not ending anytime soon.

A man was decapitated on the screen, causing the bear to howl in laughter.

"What exactly do you want?" he called out.

"Honey of course! And not those knock-offs you buy in stores. I want it fresh and harvested from a hive and—"

"We're heading off now."

"Have fun!" his dad said.

"Wait! I haven't fini—"

The trio departed from the house and made their way to the train station. They didn't converse as they travelled; they were more focused on arriving on time than idle chatter. Only once they were inside the carriage and sitting together did they relax.

"Where exactly are we meeting our driver?" Komaru asked.

"He'll be nearby the station sixteen stops from now," Monaca said. She took out a book and a pencil from the schoolbag attached to her wheelchair. "I suggest we all find something to do as we wait."

He moved a bit away from Monaca's right side, as did Komaru on her left. There was a stench he recognised coming from the book, and it was strong enough that the few passengers inside with them were backing away from the trio.

"Eugh…aren't you disgusted with that smell Monaca?" Komaru said.

"What smell?"

"Y-You can't smell it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Big Sis. It smells fine to me."

Monaca opened a few pages into her diary and started drawing. Had she lost her sense of smell? He and Komaru from their safe positions peeked at what she was drawing.

"Woah, what's that scary thing you're drawing on?" Komaru said.

"Oh, this? It's a junk version of Kumadachi."

The thing on her page had a completely different appearance compared to the bear at home. The thing's right half was a mess; only a single limb was attached and a part of its face was shattered, revealing an eyeball. It wasn't much better on its left; there were two limbs attached, and the half-grin sprouting on its face had a few teeth missing.

"What… is the purpose of that thing?" he asked. "It doesn't exactly scream domestic helper…"

"It's meant to scare people," Monaca said. "I was thinking of a perfect monster design for a horror movie and I came up with this. There are other designs as well."

She flipped to the next page. The design of the bears on this page at least resembled the original. The left side had the bear wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof vest, two round-shaped objects in each hand which he recognised as bombs. On its back was a container holding even more bombs.

"This here is a bomber version of Kumadachi," Monaca said. "I designed him for military purposes."

"Wouldn't it be better to give him a gun?" Komaru said.

"Maybe. I just think blowing things up looked a lot more fun instead."

The right side had the bear dressed in riot gear holding a riot shield, an image of its left eye on the shield with the word "Kuma" written below it.

"And this here is a guard version, designed to break up riots."

She flipped the page again, and what he saw made him recoiled in fear. On the page contained what was probably the most terrifying version of the bear yet.

"Wh-What is that…?" he said.

"It's ball Kumadachi!" Monaca said. "I designed him to be shaped like a friend."

The thing was shaped more like a nightmare than a friend. As the name implied its body was spherical, with two large arms and legs and a face located in its torso.

"So what does this version do?" Komaru asked.

"It's designed to give out hugs. Would you like a hug from it Big Bro?"

"No."

"I'll take that as a yes."

The two siblings spent their time looking at what Monaca had drawn. Every single drawing was extensively detailed, from what materials were needed to possible manufacturing rates to measurements… everything that was needed to start mass production.

It was impressive, but he couldn't help but notice that aside from the ball version every single one of her designs were tailored towards violence.

Time passed as they continued to watch Monaca polish her drawings. Each time the train stopped he kept checking to see if they had arrived at their destination. On the second to last stop, Monaca had finished and returned the book and pencil to her schoolbag.

The train finally arrived at their destination. "We're here," Monaca said. "Let's get out quick before the door closes."

He helped Monaca back into her wheelchair and the trio departed from the train. It didn't take long to find out what they were looking for; a black limousine guarded by men in black suits. They approached it as another man in a suit came out from the passenger compartment.

"Hey, you finally made it," the man said. He held out his hand to him. "Haiji Towa, at your service."

He shook Haiji's hand. "Makoto Naegi. It's nice to meet you."

He held out his hand to Komaru next. "U-Uh, Komaru Naegi!" Komaru said. "Nice to meet you as well Mister Haiji!"

His sister grabbed Haiji's hand and shook it perhaps a bit too much. Haiji didn't seem bothered by this, even smiling a bit at his sister's nervousness.

But when he turned to Monaca his smile dropped. "Monaca is called Monaca!" Monaca said. "It's nice to finally meet you!"

Monaca held up a hand to Haiji. He shook it, but he noticed that his other hand for a second had clenched into a fist.

"You too…" Haiji said, and let go of her hand. "We should hurry inside the limousine; my dad's waiting at Towa Hills."

Haiji went back inside the passenger compartment. Monaca entered the limousine next with help from one of the security guards, while the other placed her wheelchair into the boot. After Monaca was seated Komaru entered the vehicle followed by himself.

"It's almost like we're celebrities!" Komaru whispered to him. Haiji was seated in front of the trio, a laptop opened up in front of him. The limousine departed, and the next few hours of their trip across Towa's City Great Bridge consisted of Monaca asking Haiji questions. Haiji didn't really try to answer her though, responding to most of her questions with "the old man will explain it" as he focused on whatever was on his laptop's screen.

He's going to be honest; he's not feeling particularly hopeful that he's going to win that bet he made.

The limousine finally entered Towa City. He leaned back to give his sister a view of the city. Everywhere around them were tall buildings. Despite that he could still see the tallest of them all, Towa Tower, off in the distance.

"For an island of the future this city doesn't seem that different from any other," Komaru said. "N-Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing Mister Haiji!"

"Nah don't worry it," Haiji said. "The city around us is just a front; the real one is beneath us."

"R-Really…! Wait. You're just joking aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am. While Towa City from the outside doesn't look that technologically advanced, on the inside it's miles ahead of any city in Japan. For example, most of our electricity is powered through the use of clean technology."

"That's really impressive," he said.

"That's not all. We also have self-driving cars using that same technology."

"How come we haven't seen any so far?" Monaca asked.

"That's because they're still in the development phase. We've been having…slight problems in getting them to work."

The limousine stopped. The trio and Haiji exited the vehicle and had to walk up some stairs to reach the walkway to Towa Hills. He and Komaru managed to lift Monaca up the stairs with help from Haiji's bodyguards, and they continued on the path to Towa Hills. They reached the main entrance, once again having to lift Monaca up some stairs, and entered to see the path to the next floor blocked by more stairs and stair escalators.

"There sure are an awful lot of stairs in here," Monaca said. "The design of this place isn't exactly friendly to those with disabilities."

"We're working on that," Haiji said. "In fact, we already placed some solutions."

Haiji motioned for Monaca to move to one of the stair escalators. She approached the one on the right, the steps of the escalator flattened turning the escalator into an autowalk.

"Huh. I guess that's pretty smart."

They moved up the autowalk to the next floor. The floor they were on now was packed with office workers, walking around carrying documents to rooms or sitting about chatting to each other. They moved up another set of autowalks and several rooms later they were at the Chairman's Office.

Haiji knocked on the door. "Hey old man, we're here."

"Come in," the voice inside said.

They entered; sitting at a desk at the far end of the room was the chairman, Tokuichi Towa. The man resembled the photos he had seen him on, sharply-dressed in a suit with an air of authority. He glanced at Monaca; unlike Haiji she had no traits that connected her at all to her father.

"Please, sit down," Tokuichi said.

They approached the chairman's position. He and Komaru sat down in the seats arranged in front of the desk, while Haiji leaned himself against a wall behind his father. His sister was fidgeting around a bit on his left, no doubt intimidated by the chairman. He himself felt a little intimidated by the man, but he managed to compose himself under the man's stare. On his right, Monaca was just herself, all smiles with no hint of feeling scared.

"Welcome to Towa City," Tokuichi said. "I am glad you could visit despite such short notice."

"Well, we wouldn't want to waste such an opportunity to meet a very important man like yourself, Mister Chairman," Monaca said. "With such a position you must be a very busy man."

"Yes I am, but that is not important at the moment. This meeting is about you after all, Monaca Naegi."

"Soooo what exactly do you want with a girl like Monaca?"

"I am interested in your talent. Your performance at that competition had garnered my attention despite…what happened near the end."

"If you're worried about it I've managed to fix that little mishap. It won't ever happen again!"

"That's good to hear. But that's not the only reason I wanted to meet you…"

Tokuichi looked at him and Komaru. He seemed to be contemplating what to say.

"Is something the matter?" Monaca asked.

"I would like the two of them to leave us for a moment," Tokuichi said. "What I am about to say is something that is private to the three of us."

"I don't see why they shouldn't stay and listen."

"I do not trust them. I am sorry if my words are a bit blunt by the way."

"Uh, none taken," Komaru said. "It's fine Monaca. If we have to go outside we'll go."

Komaru stood up from her seat. "No. Sit back down," Monaca said. She sat back down.

"This matter doesn't concern them."

"Are you sure about that?" Monaca said. "These two are a part of my family, and family _always _sticks together don't they?"

"Still…"

"If you're worried about them being untrustworthy I can tell you this. These two are the most trustworthy people I know; surely that should give you some faith?"

"…Very well. Aside from your parents, you two must never tell anyone about this secret. If you do, however, you will wish you never crossed the Towa Group."

He gulped a little at that.

Tokuichi focused his attention to Monaca. "The other reason why I wanted to meet you has something to do with your family."

"Hmm? I don't exactly understand what my adoptive family has to do with this."

"I am not talking about your adoptive family; I am talking about your _real_ family. Monaca, I am your father."

"…"

"Wh-Whaaaaaaat!?" Komaru's scream caused him to flinch. "Y-You're her—"

"You're what!?" Haiji shouted. Just like his sister Haiji was staring at Tokuichi and Monaca with an expression of disbelief.

"Yes, you heard correctly. You are my daughter Monaca, although you and that boy there do not seem at all surprised."

"Well I already knew you were my father," Monaca said. "The orphanage you sent me to didn't exactly have the best security for their records."

"I… see. And I'm guessing you told him?"

"Oh no, he found out naturally. He's pretty smart despite his looks."

"Uhh, thanks?" he said.

"So now that you told me this what's going to happen now?"

"Simple, I want you back into our family."

This time Monaca looked surprised, but he could tell that she was faking it.

"You…want Monaca back?" Monaca asked.

"Yes. With your talent, I feel the Towa Group will be able to make even greater strides in our technology."

"Now just hold on a minute!" Haiji shouted. Tokuichi turned around to face his son.

"Is there a problem Haiji?" Tokuichi asked.

"Yeah, there is! You can't just drop something like this and expect me to accept it! Where the hell was she for the last couple of years!? Who the hell is her mother!?"

He didn't like the way Haiji was looking at Monaca. Feeling a bit shocked at learning you had another sibling was understandable, but the way he was staring at her bordered on disgust and hatred. But the man did ask an interesting question, who was Monaca's mother?

"Um…if you don't mind Mister Tokuichi," he said, "I would also like to know who Monaca's mother is."

Tokuichi looked irritated as he turned to him. "The only thing you need to know about her is that she is nothing more than a liar and a coward," he said. "A woman who breaks promises and runs when another opportunity arises."

The chairman turned back to Haiji. "As for you Haiji, I expect you to accept this. If you had made several advancements in our robotics branch then perhaps we wouldn't need her. But you have not, and the longer we are delayed our competitors are going to catch up or even surpass us in the market. Did I make myself clear?"

Haiji didn't say anything; he instead stormed off out of the office, slamming the door along the way.

"Please forgive my son for making such a scene," Tokuichi said, letting out a sigh. "I did not expect him to get this mad about it… Anyways, what is your answer Monaca? Do you wish to re-join us?"

"… I do," Monaca said.

"Excellent. I have a room already set-up for you to move into."

"Wait, wait," he said. "Can we have a moment with her?"

"You may."

The trio excused themselves out of the office. Once outside he let out a deep breath, "That was…awkward to sit through," he said. "Maybe it would have been better for us if we went outside… But more importantly, are you sure about this Monaca?"

"I sure am!" Monaca said, smiling at him. Even during Haiji's outburst, she had not dropped that smile once.

After sitting through that meeting he's not so sure if Monaca should go back to her real family. Her father seemed far more interested in her talent, and her brother had been giving him a bad feeling since they first met.

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes, there's not a doubt in my mind Big Bro. The dream I've held on for years is actually coming true! I'm finally coming back to my real family."

"So… You're actually leaving us…?"

They focused their attention on Komaru. Her hands were clasped together, head tilted a bit to her right with her eyes downcast as she avoided their gaze.

She looked depressed. He was feeling upset at himself; while he had an idea of what was going to happen today, Komaru didn't. His sister came here with them expecting none of this, and this was the result.

"Don't be sad Big Sis," Monaca said. "I was going to leave someday."

"You mean… you don't want to stay with us…?"

"Well I… I didn't mean it like tha—"

Komaru was sniffling, little tears were falling out of her eyes. "N-No I…understand. If I was given the chance to reunite with my family I would… I would also take it. But this is—"

Komaru tried to wipe away the tears in her eyes, but it did nothing. The tears wouldn't let up, and soon enough she was weeping.

"—This is just too soon… Just when I feel like I was getting to know you better this happens…? I don't know what your favourite TV shows are… what your favourite food is… I don't even know what your favourite colour is…"

… He didn't know what to say to cheer her up. He could only watch as his sister tried to stop herself from crying. He began to approach her to give her a shoulder to cry on but—

"…If it's bothering you so much I guess I can withhold my decision for a little while," Monaca said.

"Wh-What…?"

"One day. I'll spend one day with this family before I make my decision."

"N-No… You don't have to do that for me…"

"Well, I am so cheer up Big Sis! If this family doesn't treat Monaca as well as yours then she'll… she'll stay with you."

"P-Promise…?"

"I… I promise."

… Her words worked. Komaru was able to wipe away her tears without new ones forming right after.

"Are you feeling better Komaru?" he asked.

"Yeah. Better," she said. "I'm sorry for acting so selfish."

"It's okay Big Sis," Monaca said. "Monaca wasn't considerate of your feelings. If you want me to postpone my decision some more I can—"

"No, it's fine. I am absolutely fine now. One day should be enough for me to accept this."

Komaru smiled a bit. "Thank you, Monaca."

Monaca looked surprised, and this time he could tell it was genuine.

"But if they treat you well then you should stay with them. Don't let my feelings influence you out of a family. You got that Monaca?"

"Y-Yeah, I understand Big Sis."

Komaru breathed in and let out a breath. "I'm going to find a bathroom and fix myself up a bit. You can enter back in without me."

"Umm, before you go Big Sis," Monaca said, "I would…like to apologise for breaking your Sayaka CD, and for pranking you by saying there was a ghost in your room…"

"Why are you apologising for that now? I've already forgiven you."

"I… don't know actually…"

Komaru chuckled. "You're a pretty weird kid sometimes, but you have a good heart." She waved goodbye to them and headed off to find a bathroom.

"…What are you looking at Makoto?"

"Thanks for cheering my sister up," he said, smiling at her.

"There's no need to thank me. I just wanted your sister to stop crying that's all. I'm still going to go back to my family."

She held a hand towards him. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm offering you a handshake, can't you tell? While Monaca wants to say she did everything all by herself, she cannot deny that you played a part in helping her. So before we say goodbye forever I want to bury the hatchet with you. So…I'm sorry Makoto, for being such a brat to you when I first came to your house… to taking your room… to being a brat to your friends… and for blackmailing you."

…This felt weird. Was she trying to trick him? He couldn't think of anything advantageous that she could get out of this, other than his forgiveness.

"… Are you going to shake my hand or not?"

"Uh yeah, sure."

He shook hands with her. "So…are you going to delete those photos?"

"I'll think about it."

He sighed; of course it wasn't going to be that easy. He didn't feel that bothered about it actually. Monaca hadn't used those photos to make him do anything for months now.

"Let's head back in now. We wouldn't want to keep my father waiting."

The two entered back into the chairman's office.

* * *

"Stay safe Monaca!" Komaru called out, waving at the girl in the distance.

Monaca waved back at the two from the entrance of Towa Hills. Next to her was the chairman— No, her father Tokuichi Towa. The two entered back into the building, disappearing from their sight.

"…Do you think she'll be alright Makoto?"

"I'm not sure…" he said. "Let's get to our hotel first. It's getting dark."

"Y-Yeah…"

The two started walking along the walkway. The evening sky was beginning to darken, around them the lights of Towa City were starting to turn on. A limousine should be parked where they were dropped off, ready to take them to their hotel. As arranged by Monaca during her discussion with her dad, the two will be staying in Towa City for today and tomorrow so they could enjoy themselves.

Still, they took their time walking back. His sister was looking better after getting out of the bathroom, but she still had a sad expression on her face.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm just… thinking about something," she answered.

"Is it about Monaca?"

"Yes, but it's not about her leaving us."

"She might not. There's still a possibility that she'll stay with us."

"That's true, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Having too much hope only to lose it can lead to a great despair after all."

"Uh… sure." Hearing her say something like that was bringing up thoughts of Nagito. He shook away those thoughts. "So if it's not about that then what?"

"I was just thinking about how… amazing Monaca is for her age. At her age I could barely solve math problems for kids, and yet she can solve problems in a university textbook. She even built a bear that's living in our house!"

She pointed at him. "And then there's you! You're in Hope's Peak Academy, in the same class as the idol legend Sayaka herself! Not to mention all the other amazing people attending your class…"

"I mean, I only got in because of dumb luck."

"Yeah, but you still got in. Hope's Peak Academy recognised that you had talent, while for me… I'm just Komaru Naegi, an everyday boring high school girl…compared to you two I just feel…inadequate."

"Komaru…"

"… Ugh. I just said I was fine a moment ago, but now I'm telling all of this to you. I really am hopeless."

"No, you're not. I understand how you feel Komaru. Every day in class I am surrounded by people with extraordinary talents that make mine, to be honest, look like a joke. Compared to everyone else in that class… I really am just like you, just your everyday ordinary teenager.

"But there is one thing that connected all of us together despite our different talents; we all doubted ourselves at a point in our life. We all had thoughts that maybe we aren't the best at our talent as we thought, that there are people better than us in our field, that we don't deserve our title… but we kept going. You want to be a manga artist right?"

"Yeah, although I haven't drawn anything for a while…"

"Then you need to keep at it, push yourself to improve even if you're not feeling it. Your idol Sayaka wasn't born the Ultimate Pop Sensation; she had to work hard to even get noticed by the industry, and even harder to become a breakout in her field."

"Well, of course I know that Makoto! I watched all of the documentaries on her, are you saying I'm not a true Sayaker!?"

"Uh…no, I wasn't trying to say that…"

"Yeah, I know," Komaru said, chuckling to herself. She smiled at him. "You're right. I may be an ordinary high schooler now, but if I keep up with my drawings who knows what'll happen. I might actually become the Ultimate Manga Artist!"

His sister slapped her cheeks a little. "Alright! Now I'm motivated! Tomorrow I'm going to buy every single drawing tool this city has to offer!"

"Maybe try not to buy _every_ drawing tool in the city…" he said. Monaca gave them a budget of half a million, and if his sister was actually serious about what she said they would run out in half a day.

But if that was what she wanted to do tomorrow then he'd let her. They hadn't hung out for a while, had they? He's been with Monaca for so long he felt a bit closer to her than with Komaru. Tomorrow would be a good time for him to catch up with her.

"…Thanks, Makoto, for cheering me up," Komaru said. "You know, maybe you should be the Ultimate Motivator! Are you allowed to change titles at Hope's Peak?"

"You can, but that title is already taken," he replied.

"Oh. Well, you'll always be the Ultimate Motivator to me!"

They arrived at their limousine. They entered it, and during the drive he took out his phone to call his mum.

"Mum?" he said.

"Makoto! Are you coming home now?" his mum replied. "It's starting to get late."

"Uh…about that. There's something I need to tell you."

He told his mum about everything that transpired after they entered Towa City. After finishing his mum didn't answer for a while, no doubt trying to take in what he said.

"…This is really unexpected," his mum finally said. "I didn't know that Monaca was actually the daughter of Tokuichi Towa… How's Komaru holding up?"

"She had a bit of an outburst… but she's calmed down now. What about you mum?"

"Well I… I can't honestly say that I'm really happy about this. Don't get me wrong; I'm happy for Monaca that she found her real family, and if she wants to stay with them then I won't stop her. That's what your father and I always wanted for her."

"Can I ask you a question mum?"

"Sure."

"What made you decide to adopt Monaca?"

"… I just felt sorry for her. Every time your dad and I drove past that orphanage we always spotted her alone from the other kids, hanging around the dumpsters or just standing near the gate. It didn't help that I always had a bad feeling about that place. So after driving past the orphanage one too many times I decided to tell your father 'I'm going to adopt that girl!', and we did."

Huh. That was… surprisingly simple. If he got the chance to he's going to tell Monaca about this.

"Monaca was such a good child," his mum said, sighing a little. "Although a bit of a troublemaker at home and at school. Remember that time she played that awful ghost prank on Komaru?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"God, that incident was the one that really made me think I was doing something wrong in raising her. But after a while, she stopped causing so much trouble at home and at school. I can't help but think it was mostly you that did the hard work."

"Don't put yourself down mum. You and dad had a big influence on her as well."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then I'll take your word for it. I just wished we had a bit more time with her… She never did call your father and I mum and dad. If she had I would be able to say goodbye with no regrets."

"…"

"Did we do a good job Makoto? Did we raise her right…?"

"…Yeah. You did the best you could have."

* * *

"Your room is further up," the greedy businessman said. "Set up an alarm for tomorrow. You will be attending a meeting with me at eight, so wake up at six to eat and dress yourself up. After the meeting you will go to a factory, where you will be aiding my son in designing our self-driving cars. Do you understand?"

I peered down the hallway in front of me. Jeez, how far did I have to move to go to my room? I had to go up an elevator to another floor, go up a flight of stairs to move to the next floor, go into this wide empty room and go through another set of hallways just to reach it. Whoever designed this place should be fired.

"Yep!" I replied. "Monaca understands completely Mister Towa!"

"Good. I will be heading off now."

The greedy businessman started to head off to the exit. There was still something I needed to ask him however, something sooo important I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I didn't ask.

"Umm, Mister Towa!" I called out. The greedy businessman turned around to me.

"What is it? I do not have time to waste here so make it quick."

"Can you tell me more about my mother?"

The greedy businessman scowled at me. It seemed my mother was a bit of a sore spot for him.

"I have nothing else to say about that woman," the greedy businessman said. "She is a liar and a coward, what more is there to say?"

Well, I already knew that my mother was a selfish and pathetic human being, but if I was going to find her I need something more specific.

"Can't you tell me more, please? If you do, Monaca will promise to never bring her up ever again for the rest of her life."

"…"

"…"

"… She was quiet."

Wow. Truly such a description like that would help me find her.

"Um… is there anything else?"

"… She did her job."

"I'm sorry Mister Towa, but can you give just a _teensy_ bit more detail about her?"

"There is nothing else to describe your mother. I was not that close to her, so if you want to know useless details such as her likes I cannot give you an answer."

Now, this was such a disappointment. I guess I'd have to search the archives of Towa Hills to find out who my mother was.

"… You do not act like that woman at least. She was not the type to make small talk on her own."

Oh?

The greedy businessman continued, "She was a recluse. Once she had finished whatever task she was assigned to she would lock herself up in her room, working on whatever little project she thought of. Talking to her might as well be talking to a brick wall; she will give the minimalist of answers to your questions.

"That was what I admired about her; she didn't let such distractions interfere with work. I give her an assignment; she does it without complaint and on time. It was the perfect working relationship, one that eventually evolved into something…"

He stared at me. Oh, I get it, the birds and the bees.

"… But it all ended when she broke her promise. You weren't supposed to be born, but I allowed it on the condition that she raised you. She obviously did not, and if I had known perhaps you would be spared from your fate."

"…"

The greedy businessman checked his watch. "I have wasted enough time talking here. Any further questions on your mind will have to wait until tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night!"

The greedy businessman exited the building. It's good to know that even if my family kept me my life would have sucked anyway. Oh well, time to go to my room. I headed down the hallway and came upon the entrance to my room, on another floor above me with only a ladder to get there.

"…"

… Was I being pranked here? How did anyone think that it was a good idea to give a handicapped (not really) girl a room accessible only by a ladder?

I looked around me. Nobody was around, but maybe there were cameras hidden inside the walls. In order to keep up my act, I began the difficult task of trying to climb up a ladder without using my legs.

* * *

"As you can see from the chart, our competitors are slowly gaining on us in the market. If we don't do anything about it we might lose our position to the Togami Corporation in a few months. That's why I propose—"

Blah, blah, blah. This sure was a board meeting, because I was feeling really bored being here. The young businessman in front of the screen was rambling about stock markets or something. Here's a simple idea to get ahead, kill the competition. No Byakuya Togami, no Togami Corporation. It's such an easy solution I wanted to shout it out to stop the man from wasting everybody's time.

I stifled the yawn that almost came from my mouth. I hadn't had much sleep yesterday; I spent two hours trying to climb up a ladder, and the next four writhing in bed after falling to the ground too many times.

I glanced at my side; the greedy businessman had his attention on the boring presentation. As soon as I could I made a request to transfer to a different room, and he said he would grant me it… when he had time. How rude. If I asked my servant to do something he would do it immediately.

… Speaking of him, I wonder how he's doing. I bet he's having fun with his sister, going around the city while I was stuck here—

"Monaca, it's time for your presentation."

"Yes Mister Towa!"

I approached the front, going around the square meeting table to reach the widescreen monitor attached to the wall. The young businessman who was presenting before seated himself at the meeting table, a laptop in front of him ready to press buttons when I told him to.

"Everyone," the greedy businessman called out. "This is Monaca Naegi. You may remember her from the video I showed you last week."

"Ah, the one with the bear?" an old businessman said.

"Yes, that one."

The greedy businessman focused his attention on me. "You may present now."

I cleared my throat. "Hello everyone!" I called out. "I hope you're all beary prepared for my presentation!"

"…"

… I cleared my throat again. "I said, I hope you're all _beary_ prepared for my presentation!"

"…"

…Wow, tough crowd I had here. The greedy businessman at the far end of the table had a hand across his face.

"… So you see the joke here is that I'm going to be talking about bears, so instead of saying 'very' I said 'beary.'"

"Oh, I get it!" the young businessman said.

The greedy businessman groaned. "Monaca, please don't waste our time with jokes. Get on with the presentation."

"… Yes Mister Towa."

I continued on with my dull presentation, showing the room of humourless suits on the monitor the drawings I had made in my diary. They were all very impressed with my ideas for a robotic police force. It's just a shame they didn't have a single funny bone inside them. At least my adoptive family could laugh, even at the worst of my jokes.

It felt like forever, but I managed to finish my lifeless presentation. The suits in the room clapped as I joined the greedy businessman at the meeting table.

"I must say you found quite the talent Tokuichi!" the old businessman from before said. "With this girl, the Towa Group will be able to stay ahead of the competition!"

"There is no need to thank me," the greedy businessman said. "I was just doing my part to help our corporation."

For the next few hours, the boring suits talked about stuff Monaca couldn't care less about. While the suits talked she entertained herself with the idea of jumping off from Towa Tower.

* * *

I stared out from the window of the office, watching the workers at the assembly lines building the latest model of Towa brand cars. Behind me was my lesser sibling, sitting down at a couch typing away at his laptop. In the reflection of the glass, I could spot him giving me dirty looks every once in a while.

My presence seemed to be causing him some distress. I know; maybe I should talk to him! It's not like there's anything else to do here.

I moved towards my lesser sibling, my approach causing him to look even more uncomfortable. I peered at the laptop screen from his side. "What are you doing big brother Haiji?"

"I'm working," my lesser sibling said, his tone a bit too aggressive in my opinion.

"What are you working on?"

"Does it matter? Listen I don't have time to talk so can you move away from me?"

"Maybe Monaca can help you out?"

"This isn't something a kid like you can do. I've been working on solving this problem for months and I still haven't come up with anything. What makes you think you can do any better?"

I shrugged. "Your father thinks I can; if me being here is any indication."

"… What are you trying to say?"

I raised my hands up to my lesser sibling. Whoopsie, I touched on a nerve. How careless of me.

"I didn't mean anything big brother Haiji!" I said. "Monaca just wants to help."

"Well, I don't need it so get lost."

"How about we make a bet? Give me thirty minutes to look at your problem and if I can solve it you can take allll the credit for it. In return, I just want to chat with you for a while. Deal?"

"….Fine, here."

My lesser sibling handed me the laptop. I got a good look at what he was working on; it seemed he's been having trouble developing a power source for a self-driving car. I began typing in a solution.

"If you can't come up with a solution just hand me back the laptop," my lesser sibling said. "I've already wasted time talking to—"

"Done."

"… What?"

"I'm done. Here you go."

I held the laptop towards him. He grabbed it and began reading through what I wrote. I couldn't believe he actually got stuck on something like that; taking over his position should be easier than I thought.

"So, are you satisfied with my solution?"

"…Tch."

I was going to take that as a yes. "Now then, what should we talk about? How about our favourite foods? Monaca isn't a picky eater, so she'll eat anything as long as it's—"

"I don't want to talk."

"Huh? But big brother Haiji promi—"

"I didn't promise anything," my liar of a sibling said. "Listen, kid. I'm going to be honest with you. I don't like you, at all. Hearing your voice and even seeing you makes me ill, so don't think that we'll ever get along with each other."

"…"

"And stop calling me big brother. You're not my sister."

"… How about Big Bro?"

"No. Just go to that spot and be quiet. If I need anything from you I'll say so."

… At least he's honest about his feelings, and honesty was such a hard virtue to find in this world. I think he and I would get along just fine!

I moved to the spot my lesser sibling was pointing to. I noticed there was a bit of a flaw with the design of the self-driving cars; they were hackable. It would be pretty bad if someone smart were to know that. They could cause some good damage in Towa City.

But I was sure my lesser sibling didn't need to know that detail. I was just going to sit right here and be quiet; that's what he wanted after all...

* * *

Did you know that ladders were the worst things invented in human history? I sure didn't know that, until I tried climbing up one without using my legs.

After countless falls I finally managed to reach the upper floor my room was on. I lifted myself up onto the floor and crawled all the way to the door of my room. Climbing up the ladder was the easy part; the hard part was actually trying to go down it without falling and breaking my neck.

I groaned; going to my room was such a pain. Maybe breaking my head would be a good idea… I was kidding of course.

I opened the door. My room was quite spacious, with only a few cabinets and drawers littered around. This was much better than my servant's crummy little room!

…Except for the fact that maybe it was a _bit_ too dark in here. The only light source here was the one coming from above, juuuust enough for me to make out the shapes in the darkness.

I crawled over to the bed-shaped object and lied down on it. There were also no blankets, so when I started to shiver a bit from how cold it was in here I couldn't do anything about it.

"…"

… It's also too quiet here. I couldn't hear the sound of traffic or people talking, just my own breathing and the beating of my heart. The shadows in the room moved, causing my heart to beat even faster.

My mind was playing tricks on me. There were no monsters here, just me. I knew this and yet my stupid heart kept beating faster. I need to distract myself, draw in my diary or some—

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the screen, a message from my servant.

_Are you doing okay Monaca?_

A bit late to ask that now wasn't it? I texted back.

_I am Makoto. I'm having soooo much fun here!_

Another message. _That's good to hear! So your family is treating you well?_

As if. These people sucked at taking care of a child. The carers at the orphanage treated me better than them; at least they acted like they cared when they weren't beating me half to death.

Their servants weren't better either. They would give me cold looks when they thought I wasn't looking at them and talked mean things behind my back. They didn't even help me in finding out where the bathroom was; I had to find it myself.

But this was a good thing; it meant that I won the bet! I could do whatever I want to them and my servant had no choice but to let me. How should I take my revenge? Maybe I'd rig a car to explode, blowing up my greedy father and my lesser brother. Or maybe I should poison their food, watch them wither away until they're at their deathbeds and tell them it was me. So many possibilities, I couldn't choose!

My servant once asked me what I'd do once I'd taken my revenge, and after thinking it through I got an answer. Once they're gone I was going to take over the Towa Group! I was going to start mass-producing my domestic helpers and have them in every home in Towa City. They would act as spies, transmitting every dirty little secret to me so I could control the populace. I'd also get rid of the police force here and replace it with my machines.

Towa City was going to become my fun little playground until I die, and I had my servant to thank for it! I'll try hard not to kill anyone; I did promise him that. Now all that's left for me to do was rub it in his face that he lost…

…

_Yeah, my family is treating me okay._

… Why did I lie?

_I'm glad. I was worried about them at first, but it looks like it was just a false alarm._

There's nothing to gain from withholding it, so why didn't I tell him the truth? Did I really care that much about how he felt…?

No, that couldn't be it. I was just playing it safe that's all. I typed in another message.

_What would you have done if they weren't?_

_I would have rushed over to get you out._

I chuckled; he really was quite naive. What was he going to do? Fight his way through Towa Hills?

_That's very brave of you, but I don't think that would have been a good idea._

_Yeah… You're probably right. But just know that I would have done everything I can to help you._

…

_So, how was your time in Towa City?_

_It was fun! Komaru and I had a great time. I'll send you some pictures of what we did._

My servant sent me photos. One photo had them at the top of Towa Tower, another had them at a shopping district, and another had them at a restaurant. In every single photo they looked like they were having so much fun…

… Their smiles were getting on my nerves.

_I'm going to sleep. Good night Big Bro._

_Good night Monaca. I'll see you tomorrow._

I went to my contacts list, pressing a thumb on my servant's name until the option to delete came up. Deleting him and his family should cheer me up; their services were no longer required.

After all, long-distance relationships were always bound to fail. We might make promises that we'd keep in touch, but life's going to get in the way sooner or later. Messages and phone calls would become infrequent over time, and one day they'd stop altogether. The person you were closest to would be nothing more than a memory.

The time I spent with my adoptive family… wasn't all that bad I guess. It was like living in a dream…but I had to wake up from it eventually. I didn't really deserve that life anyway; the one I was in now was more fitting for me.

My thumb hovered over the word "delete." Just one more push and I'd be able to move on from them.

…

… I pressed on "cancel." Maybe I should keep an eye on them for a while longer. My servant might not know it, but he held more power in our relationship than me. If he wanted he could tell everyone about the real me and I wouldn't be able to stop him… unless I kill him before that. But that's only as a last resort of course.

There's only one last thing for me to do before I call it a night. I called a number and waited for an answer.

"Hello? Your friendly neighbourhood bear is here!" the bear answered.

"Kumadachi, are you alone?" I said.

"Yep! I'm sitting in my private reading chamber right now, with a glass of wine in one hand and a paper in the other. It's truly relaxing…"

I heard someone knocking on a door on the other end. "Kumadachi, are you done in there?" my adoptive father said. "I need to use the bathroom."

"I'll be done in a minute!"

"Alright…"

"You see. I'm perfectly alone in here!"

"…Okay then. Give me a status report."

"Well I finished my movie marathon and I am feeling inspired! I think I should change up my image, start learning some music ya know? I think rap is the perfect music choice for a bear like me!"

"I don't care what you did today."

"Oh, you're so cruel Monaca! Your words would have shattered my heart into a million pieces, but I don't have one so I'm fine."

"Just tell me what I want. Did my adoptive family mention me when I was gone?"

"They sure did. Yesterday I recorded an interesting conversation between your herbivore brother and his mum. Wanna hear it?"

"Send me the recording."

"As you say boss!"

The bear sent me an audio message. While its incessant talking could be grating it was doing a fine job spying on my adoptive family.

"Are you finished yet?" my adoptive father said on the other end. "I really need to go now."

"Oh, it hurts!" the bear cried out. "My stomach hurts so much! Sorry, just wait a little while longer okay?"

"But I can't hold it in any longer!"

"Let him in," I said. "I've got what I wanted from you."

"But I haven't finished reading!"

"That's an order."

I ended the call. To the parents who had to deal with Kumadachi, you had my deepest sympathies and condolences. I played the recording sent to me.

… So that was the reason my adoptive family took me in? I had to be honest, that was anticlimactic. Taking me in because I looked sad? Ridiculous really… Knowing this wasn't going to change anything. I'd already made up my mind to stay here in Towa City. This was the best chance I had to get sweet old revenge, and if I didn't take it now I might never get a second shot…

…

…Hmm, perhaps I could think over my decision once more…

* * *

"Do you think she's going to stay here?" Komaru asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "I guess we'll find out soon enough…"

They entered the entrance to Towa Hills. Hanging out with his sister yesterday had been fun, but as they kept walking to the chairman's office he was feeling a mixture of sadness and nervousness.

This might be the last time he'd ever see Monaca. He'd admit it; a part of him had wished that he never had to hang out with her ever again when she was at her cruellest. But she had softened over time. No more "pranks" at home and school, no more punishments… She wasn't always the most pleasant person to talk to, but not the worst either.

If she stayed with her family, which seemed very likely given what she said yesterday… he's going to miss her quite a bit.

… But he'd also be worried. Yeah, he won the bet, but what if she reverted back to her old habits now that he wasn't around? Even if he tried to stay in contact with her they wouldn't always have time to chat, and who knows if what she told him would be the truth…

… He's going to put his faith in her. If he couldn't even do that then what was the point in getting her to change? He might as well handcuff himself to her if he distrusted her that much.

And if she does go back to her old habits he'd just resort to the plan he made to stop her. He'd come clean to his friends about Monaca's true nature, and together they'd work something out. Was it perfect? Nope, but he'd have a much better chance working in a team than alone.

They reached the chairman's office. Outside the door waiting for them was Monaca.

"Welcome back!" Monaca said. "How was Towa City yesterday?"

"It was fantastic!" Komaru replied. "We went to all the famous tourist spots, ate all the top foods, and bought a ton of stuff thanks to the money you gave us."

"I'm glad you got to enjoy yourselves…"

"What about you Monaca? Did you have fun yesterday?"

"Not really. I just sat in boring meetings and did boring paperwork."

"Oh. I guess that's a shame… Did your family treat you well at least?"

"They're not exactly the best, but they treated me fine."

"…"

"Is something the matter Big Sis?"

"I… guess this is goodbye then. I wish I could have spent more time to know you, but a promise is a promise. I'm going to miss you a lot Monaca."

"You shouldn't say that just yet Big Sis."

"Huh? Why not?"

"You'll see. Let's go in now shall we?"

Monaca entered the office. What was that about? Was she planning something? The duo glanced at each other before they followed after her. Tokuichi was at his desk, and just like last time they sat down in the seats facing the chairman. Right behind the chairman was Haiji, leaning on a wall looking impatient.

"We meet again," Tokuichi said. "I hope you two had a great time in Towa City."

"Yes we did," he said. "Thank you very much for your hospitality."

"It is fine. I am glad you two enjoyed your stay in Towa City. Be sure to leave a good review once you leave alright?"

"W-We will Mister Tokuichi!" Komaru said. It looks like she's still nervous around the man.

"Good. Now then… what is your decision Monaca? Are you staying with us, your real family, or with them?"

He looked to his right; Monaca had an unreadable expression. He already knew what her answer was going to be though.

"…I think I'm going to stay with them!" Monaca said, smiling at her father.

Wait, what?

"Are you sure?" Tokuichi said. "This is quite an opportunity for you. It is not often that one gets the privilege to join the Towa Group."

"Nope, I'll pass."

"…Then how about this? If you reconsider right now I'll transfer you to a different room as you requested. I'll even throw in a few more benefits as well."

"Just give up old man," Haiji said. "If the girl wants to leave let her leave. We can do just fine without her."

"Your son's right. Whatever you say won't change my mind. Although I do worry about the future of this company, especially since big brother Haiji is in charge of the robotics branch."

Haiji glared at Monaca. "And what do you mean by that?"

"I don't mean anything bad. I'm just saying that you don't have the skills for that position."

"… You'd better take back what you said or else—"

"I mean, seriously? You couldn't create such a simple power supply for a self-driving car? Monaca only needed a glance and she solved what took you months in seconds. It's no wonder The Excalibur isn't flying around Towa City; it would take a billions years for that to happen with you in charge."

… Should he say something? Haiji looked ready to charge right at the smiling girl.

"How does that make you feel big brother Haiji?" Monaca continued. "If your father hadn't ditched me you wouldn't be the head of the robotics branch, not that you deserve it in the first place. You should be thankful I'm leaving this place. Compared to me you have as much talent as the girls you like, minor."

Haiji bolted towards her. He was about to stand up to protect his sister, but the man stopped his charge when his father raised a hand.

"Stop," Tokuichi said.

"But this brat—"

"I said, _stop_. Let me handle this."

Haiji stood where he was, but he eventually returned to his previous position. His intense glare was still focused on Monaca.

"Yeah, let your old man handle it Big Bro!" Monaca said. "Not that he's going to help that much, but it's the thought that counts right?"

"That is enough talk from you. What do you gain by mocking my son and his… interesting choice in women? I don't understand."

"Oh I gain nothing really; I just wanted to see how he would react to the truth. But enough about him; why don't I talk about you next?"

"I would rather not hear whatever it is you have to say."

"You had a short-lived career as a politician, didn't you? You were quite good at rallying people to your side, but then you got too greedy. You made too many promises you couldn't deliver and had an early retirement from politics. I'm surprised you still have followers after that crash and burn."

"Enough."

"Your career as a businessman doesn't look so good either. The Towa Group hasn't made any major technological strides for two years now. Your competitors are catching up, and soon enough your corporation will be the one lagging behind everyone. The great legacy of the Towa Group will end with you and your son… How tragic."

"That is enough _Monaca_."

"Maybe that's why my mother ditched you. I don't even like her that much, but after seeing the state of things here I can understand why she would jump ship. It's either that, or you didn't satisfy her enough in—"

"_Enough!_"

Tokuichi slammed his fist on the desk, startling him and his sister. Like his son, the chairman was glaring at the grinning little girl. That glare softened as Tokuichi leaned back into his chair, fixing up his tie on his suit.

"I apologise for my… outburst," Tokuichi said, staring at the two siblings. "I did not mean to frighten you two."

"N-No…it's okay…" Komaru said.

Tokuichi focused his attention on Monaca. "I believe you made it clear how much you despise us."

"What? Monaca didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Monaca said.

"Normally saying such words would have rescinded my offer, but I will make an exception for you. I will simply overlook this behaviour as a result of your upbringing."

"Why you're so kind. But Monaca doesn't think she'll take your offer anytime soon."

Monaca turned to us. "Let's go, Big Bro, Big Sis. We're done here." She started moving towards the door.

"You are always welcome back to Towa City," Tokuichi called out. "Just make sure you have an apology ready for when you come running back."

Monaca exited the room. He stood up from his seat. "Please excuse us," he said. He bowed to the chairman before hurrying after the girl. Komaru did the same and ran after him as well.

Monaca was already on her way down the autowalk when they caught up to her. "What was that Monaca?!" Komaru said. "Why did you say all of that to them!?"

"Because they treated Monaca poorly."

"Huh? But I thought you said they weren't?"

"I'll explain it along the way."

As they made their way out of Towa Hills Monaca talked about her experience yesterday. She emphasised how everybody gave her cold looks, how they didn't laugh at her jokes, and how ladders were the worst things ever created.

They exited the building. "Can you believe it?" Monaca said. "They forced a cripple girl like me to climb a ladder, a _ladder_, just to get to my room."

"How awful!" Komaru said. "It's no wonder you said all of those things. Honestly, if that happened to me I would have given them a piece of my mind as well."

"I'm glad you understand how I feel Big Sis!"

"You know what? Once we get back home how about I take you out tomorrow? I'll make sure you have the best time of your life to make up for what happened."

"Oh? Well… I guess I would like that."

Komaru smiled. "Then it's decided! I'm glad you're back Monaca."

"…"

They helped Monaca down the stairs to the walkway and continued on to their destination.

"… Hey Komaru," he said. "Can I talk to Monaca in private?"

"Sure," she replied. "I'll go on ahead to our limousine." She dashed off ahead, leaving them alone for the time being. He stared at the girl next to him.

"So… you decided to stay with us," he said.

"Yes, I have," Monaca replied. "Is that a problem Big Bro? If you don't want me back you can just dump me here."

"No, it's fine. Glad to have you back Monaca."

"I find it hard to tell whether you're being sarcastic or not."

"No sarcasm here, just being truthful. Can I ask you a couple of questions?"

"Go ahead."

He went behind Monaca and moved her along the walkway. "Question one," he said. "Why did you lie about your family? If I had known about it I would have tried to help you."

"To be honest I don't think you would've helped much," Monaca said. "But to answer your question, I lied to protect myself. If Monaca admitted she won the bet you would have done something, wouldn't you? You would have tried to stop me from taking revenge, all because of your silly little ideals."

"My ideals aren't silly. I don't believe in an eye for an eye, so if I knew then yeah, I would have tried to stop you."

"Let me ask you a question." She turned her body around to face him. "What would you have done to stop me?"

"I would have asked my friends for help."

"Really, relying on your friends? You shouldn't have your friends support you that much. You'll become a loser at this rate."

"It's a better option than trying to stop you alone."

"I guess that's fair." Monaca turned away from him and leaned back into her wheelchair.

"Next question," he said. "Have you given up your revenge?"

"Nope. I came up with a new plan though, want to hear it?"

"Sure…"

"I'm going to build my own company, the best company in the whole wide world! I'll build inventions better than the Towa Group, pay my workers better than the Towa Group, and have a private island even better than the Towa Group! My family will watch as their precious legacy gets destroyed, and for the rest of their miserable lives, they'll live with the knowledge that it was me who did it. It's a much better revenge than just letting them die right?"

… At least no one gets killed, right?

"Yeah, it's… much better I think? Wouldn't that be harder for you though?"

"Perhaps. Destroying my family from the inside would be easier for me, but where's the fun in that? Life's all about challenges, and without them life would be a bit dull wouldn't you agree? Besides, you'll be helping me in building up my corporation."

"I will?"

"Yes, you will. You have an unnatural talent to get close to people, and I want to use that. If there's someone I need befriending I'll send you to do the task for me. I'll be the brains, and you'll be… well, not the brawn. Maybe you'll be the heart?"

"I don't exactly feel comfortable being used like this…"

"Relax Makoto. You'll be getting something out of this as well. If it all goes smoothly you and your family will be rich! So, are you in?"

"…Fine." He's not really sure if he wanted to be Monaca's friendship tool, but at least she's putting her energy into something productive now.

"Perfect! Now, do you have any more questions?" Monaca asked.

"No, that's all I wanted to ask," he said.

"Then let's hurry home. Oh, by the way, you can have your room back."

He was surprised. He was finally getting his room back, after all these months?

"Where will you be sleeping then?"

"Isn't it obvious? In your sister's room of course."

"Weren't you complaining about how her snoring kept you up at night?"

"That's all in the past. Besides having a bit of noise can be… reassuring in a way. Let's catch up to your sister; we've talked for far too long now."

Monaca pointed ahead. He pushed her wheelchair faster along the walkway. They caught up to Komaru, standing near the steps that led down to the road below.

"Is something wrong Komaru?" he asked as he approached her.

"Yeah uh, we might have a problem getting back home…" she said. She pointed at the road. He looked; the limousine that took them here was no longer there.

"How petty," Monaca said. "It looks like my father took back the limousine he loaned you. I guess we'll have to find another way back to your house."

"But I have a lot of stuff back in the hotel!" Komaru cried out. "There's no way I can carry all of it by hand!"

"… Maybe you don't need to," he said. "I think I know someone who can help."

* * *

"Thanks, Byakuya," my accomplice said. "I really owe you one."

"Hmph. Do not expect me to help you out like this again," Mister four-eyes said. "Especially for _her_."

The blonde teenager glared at me. Jeez, I already apologised to him during our car ride. Couldn't he just let bygones be bygones?

"I know, I know, I'm sorry for troubling you. I swear I won't use you as a personal taxi ever again."

"You should be glad that I'm in a forgiving mood today, else that sorry excuse of an apology wouldn't work. Prepare yourself for the future Makoto; for I'll be making good use of that favour you owe me."

The limousine Mister Four-eyes was in took off, followed by the five other limousines behind it. "U-Uh, thank you so much for the ride Mister Byakuya!" my adoptive sister called out, although I doubted that he actually heard.

"I think he likes you," I said.

"I find that hard to believe sometimes…" my accomplice said. "Let's get everything into the house."

My accomplice picked up one of the shopping bags scattered around us, as did his sister. In half a day my adoptive sister had blown away the money given by my father. I didn't exactly know why my adoptive sister blew half a million dollars on five hundred drawing utensils, but at least it wasn't my money.

I picked up a small bag I could carry and stared at my accomplice's house. Such a boring looking home; it's certainly less impressive than Towa Hills. But at least it didn't have any damn ladders.

My accomplice approached the front door and pressed on the doorbell. My adoptive sister and I stood behind him as we waited.

The door opened. "Well look who it is. You guys sure took your fuckin' time getting back."

We all took a step back away from the door.

"What? Is there something on my face? Is it shit? It's shit isn't it?"

I stared at my invention. What happened to it? The right half of the bear that was supposed to be all white was now greyish; the right eye covered with an eye-patch with a symbol of a heart on it. Around its neck were a black tie and a gold chain with a padlock attached, and on its head was a black fedora with a single white feather stained red at the tip. A cigar was also in its hand.

"Um…what happened to your appearance Kumadachi?" I asked.

"Oh, that? I got fed up with it and decided to redesign myself. You gotta admit, I look fuckin' baller right now wouldn't you agree!"

More like a fashion disaster in my opinion.

"And don't call me Kumadachi anymore, it's Kurokuma. Do ya get it? It's because I'm—"

"If you don't mind," my accomplice said, "can we go in now?"

"What, you need the bathroom?"

"No, I just want to get everything inside."

My accomplice gestured behind him, prompting Kurokuma to look behind us. "What the hell? Did you buy an entire store or some shit?"

"Something like that…" my adoptive sister said.

"As you can see we brought a lot of stuff back with us," I said. "Why don't you help us bring it all in?"

"Nah fuck that, I'm on my smoke break at the moment."

"Bears shouldn't be smoking in the first place. And I'm not asking you to help, I'm ordering you, or is there something wrong with your programming? Maybe Monaca should take a look inside your head…"

"Whoa, whoa, I was just messing with ya Monaca! I'll take everything in as fast as possible!"

Kurokuma dashed past us and began to pick up the bags. I never expected my invention to develop into…that. I should probably keep an eye on it for a while.

My adoptive sister walked into the house. I tried to move through the front door as well but was stopped by my accomplice.

"Before we go in can I tell you something?" he said.

"What is it?" I replied.

"You know how you were wondering why my family adopted you? I asked my mum about it and she gave me an answer. Want to hear it?"

"No need. I already know the answer."

"You do? How did you find out?"

"It's a secret. I'll admit it, I was entirely wrong about my assessment on your family. They're as close to the word 'good' as people can get."

"Do you think you can open up to them a bit more?"

"… I'll try."

My accomplice smiled. "That's good to hear. Oh, one more thing. Can you start calling my parents mum and dad? You don't need to if you don't want, but I think it'll make them very happy."

"Yes, yes, I'll do that. Can we go in now?"

My accomplice moved out of the way, allowing me to enter his house. Speaking of mums, I have found zero information in Towa Hills about my real mother. All evidence of her working there had been erased. The only thing I have on her was that she's reclusive. Nobody came to mind, so I guess it's going to take a while longer until I find my beloved mother…

My adoptive mother walked out of the kitchen. "Makoto, Komaru, you're back!" she said, smiling at the duo as they placed down the bags. "How was your—"

She noticed me at the front door. She stepped back a little, a look of surprise on her face. "M-Monaca?! Is that you!?"

"Nope, I'm her twin sister!" I replied. "But yes, it's me in the flesh."

"I… I never thought you'd come back to us. What about your family?"

"Monaca had a bit… of a falling out with them. I'll explain it later once all the bags are inside."

"Okay…"

My adoptive mother stood there, staring down at her hands as they fumbled around. She looked like she was at a loss for words; I guess I should help her out a bit.

"If it helps Monaca likes everyone here a _lot_ more than her own family."

"Y-You do?" She stared up at me.

"I do! Monaca's happy that she gets to stay here together with everybody!"

My words seemed to have the opposite effect of what I intended, as my adoptive mother started crying a little. Did I say something wrong? I was pretty sure I didn't, otherwise, why would she also be smiling?

My adoptive mother wiped away the tears. "Y-You have no idea how happy I am hearing that!" she said. "I'm so glad we were able to provide you the love you deserved. Tonight I'm going to cook up all of your favourite dishes!"

"Why I would love that mum!"

"… What did you just say Monaca?"

"I said I would love that!"

"No, no, what did you just call me!?"

"…Mum?"

"… H-Honey! Get over here quick!" my adoptive mother shouted. In a flash, my adoptive father came running out of the hallway of the house and into the living room.

"What happened dear!" my adoptive father cried out. He scanned the room until his eyes spotted me. "M-Monaca!? You're here!?"

"You wouldn't believe what she said!" my adoptive mother said. "She just called me mum for the first time!"

"S-She did?!"

… What's going on?

"Um… if you don't mind Monaca… can you call me dad?"

"…Dad?"

My adoptive father staggered back, leaning against a wall as if he had been struck down. He smiled at his wife. "I can't believe it, she called me dad!"

"I know right! Oh, we're the luckiest parents in the world!"

… This was weird. Just when I thought they were normal this happens. I shrugged my shoulders, oh well. I guess being a bit weird was fine. At least I know I wouldn't get too bored being around this family.

* * *

He walked into his room. He surveyed his surroundings; he still couldn't believe that he's sleeping here again. Everything looked almost the same when he got kicked out, except for a few of Monaca's personal belongings.

He moved towards his closet and opened it up. All of his stuff was still in here as well. It seemed Monaca didn't throw away any of his stuff. He lay down on his bed, smiling to himself. In the end, everything had turned out all rig—

"Whatcha smiling at Makoto? Is there something interesting up there on the ceiling?"

He turned his head. Kurokuma was leaning at his door with his arms crossed, a cigar in his mouth.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "And don't smoke inside the house!"

"Chill out; this cigar's not even lit. I'm not going to burn the fuckin' house down, because I'm a dependable bear."

Kurokuma sat down at his desk. "And didn't your sweet mum tell ya? We're roommates!"

"We're— We're what now!?"

"Are ya deaf or something? We're roommates, pals, drinking buddies or whatever else ya wanna call it."

"B-But why?"

"Because ya mum said so. She felt bad that I was sleeping on the couch, so she decided I should sleep here with Monaca instead. Well, I'm sleeping with you now but hell, I ain't complaining!"

The bear laughed. "Your mother's such a great woman. She's kind and she always laughs at my jokes, definitely my type of girl. Hey, don't glare at me like that. Are ya trying to blow my brains or something? Well guess what? I'm gonna keep on talkin' and talkin' all night until ya get used to me!"

… Actually, maybe he didn't really need his room back anymore…


	10. Chapter 10

Monaca Towa sets up a date!

Patient name: Kazuo Matsuzaki.

Occupation: high school student.

Attributes: Patient had a superb talent in baseball. Patient was suffering from imposter syndrome and recent nightmares of being killed by one thousand baseballs.

Treatment plan: Patient had been recommended to keep a journal of personal achievements. Patient had also been recommended to stop playing murder-mysteries until nightmares have subsided.

Plan's chance of success: ninety-five percent.

Concluding notes: Patient should be treated in the next three to four appointments.

She typed on her keyboard; the avatar inside her monitor speaking the words in her stead.

"It appears that's the end of our session," the avatar said. "Do you want the same time for our next appointment?"

"Sure," the patient replied. "I'll see you back here again, Ms Gekkogahara."

"Oh, I'm afraid I won't be in my office for the next couple of months."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"I've received a request for assistance from Hope's Peak Academy. They want my expertise to deal with the…recent events troubling the school."

"You're talking about The Parade?"

"Yes."

Patient had a grim look on his face. "I read about it online. I still can't believe that the school was doing human experimentation. I've always wanted to go to Hope's Peak Academy, but now that I know what the school uses its funds on I…"

Patient was beginning to fidget around in his seat. Warning, action required to prevent patient from becoming distressed. She began typing in a countermeasure.

"Don't get so down Kazuo!" the avatar said. "You don't have to go to Hope's Peak Academy if you don't want to."

"But Hope's Peak Academy is the best chance I got in getting a successful career…"

"Success is not determined by the school you go to. I'll admit that graduating from Hope's Peak Academy does give you an edge in the professional world. But remember; you don't get to pick the talent they choose for you. What talent do you definitely not want to be given Kazuo?"

"A talent I don't want? That would be the Ultimate Musician of course."

"If Hope's Peak Academy came to you asking you to be the Ultimate Musician, would you still go?"

"Hell no."

"See. There's a chance that even if you got into Hope's Peak things wouldn't work out the way you want. Hope's Peak is not the only road to a successful life; find your own road to success Kazuo, one that you won't regret."

"Yeah… Yeah, you're absolutely right!" the patient shouted, jumping up from his seat. "I don't need to go to some wack ass school anyway! I'll achieve my dreams on my own!"

She examined the now rowdy patient. Action was successful, standing by for now.

"Thanks for the encouragement Ms Gekkogahara!" The patient offered a hand to her.

"…"

The patient lowered his hand. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you don't like physical contact…" The patient rubbed the back of his head.

She typed in a response. "Don't worry about it," the avatar said. "I'm happy that you're thinking your own path in life without Hope's Peak. I'm also excited to say that your health is recovering smoothly!"

"Really?"

"Yes, so don't give up Kazuo! Keep on fighting and never give up hope!"

"I won't!" The patient had a big grin on his face. Revising concluding notes: Patient should be treated in the next appointment.

Patient was now walking towards the door. "See ya Ms Gekkogahara! Next time you see me I'll be a new man!" he shouted, and left the room.

Objective completed: Finish all appointments scheduled today.

Time taken: four hours, thirty-five minutes and fifty-five seconds.

New objective: Pack up belongings for the journey to Hope's Peak Academy.

She moved towards the door, opening it to reveal the hallway outside. She exited through the door and—

"Ugh, what's with all the noise today?"

She turned her head towards the source of the voice. Two members of Future Foundation were approaching her left.

"You really should control your patients Miaya. We're not a daycare centre here you know? Some of us here actually have important duties to do."

Subject speaking had her arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed as she gazed at her.

Subject name: Ruruka Ando.

Occupation: Branch Office Eight Director.

Attributes: Subject was formerly known as the Ultimate Confectioner, and thus skilled at creating candies and sweets that were addictive. Subject had severe trust issues and thus extremely distrustful towards anyone who wouldn't eat her candy.

Therapy required: yes.

Chance of attending therapy: eight percent.

Concluding notes: Subject was difficult to work with, and was commonly referred to as a "bitch" by her fellow co-workers behind her back. Such a statement was concluded to be ninety-percent true based on previous interactions with the subject.

She began typing. "I'm sorry if my patients were bothering you Ruruka!" the avatar said. "I'll make sure to keep them in check next time."

"Really? I don't believe you, but…"

Subject was approaching her, taking out one of her confections from her pocket.

"… If you eat one of my candies, I might trust what you said."

Subject held the candy near her face. Warning, some of the subject's confections contained a substance known to place people under hypnotic suggestion. Recommended action was to not eat the candy.

"Come on, just open wide and say ahhh."

Subject was attempting to feed her, simulating mouth movements as if subject was feeding a baby. Annoyance with the subject was rising.

"Oh, look at that; you can frown. Sometimes I forget that you're a human and not a robot."

The subject gestured to her companion, causing the male to approach them.

Subject name: Sonosuke Izayoi, or Yoi as referred to by his partner.

Occupation: Branch Office Nine Director.

Attributes: Subject was formerly known as the Ultimate Blacksmith, and thus skilled at developing and handling a variety of lethal weapons and traps. Subject was extremely loyal to his partner Ruruka Ando and wouldn't hesitate to follow her every order.

Therapy required: no.

Concluding notes: Subject had bad taste in women.

"Since you won't eat this, I'll just give it to someone who will. Open wide Yoi!"

Subject's companion opened his mouth, letting the subject feed him the candy in her hand.

"How is it?" the subject asked.

"Delicious as ever," her companion replied, causing the subject to smile.

"Of course it is. My sweets are the best after all."

Subject placed her head onto her companion's chest, eyes closed as her companion embraced her. Caution, exposure to intimacy was causing her some discomfort. Recommended action was to leave immediately.

"Forgive me Ruruka, but I'm in a hurry at the moment," the avatar said.

The subject escaped from her companion's embrace, staring at her now with curiosity in her eyes. "Why? You got somewhere to go?"

"Yes. I'll be leaving for a few months to help out Hope's Peak Academy."

Caution, subject seemed exasperated at the mention of Hope's Peak Academy. Subject had a grudge with the school since she was expelled due to an incident. Further interactions with the subject in the future should avoid mentioning such a sensitive topic.

"Is that so? I wouldn't bother trying to help out that rotten school, especially now that all of their dirty secrets are out for the world to see. But if you really want to go I won't object."

Subject approached her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. Contact with subject's hand caused her to flinch involuntarily.

"This place is going to be a lot quieter without you. Although it already was since you don't talk at all, so I guess nothing's changed. Have fun at that crap school Miaya."

Subject patted her shoulder a few times, each touch causing her to grow more annoyed until the subject started to walk away with her companion. She watched them move down the hallway, chatting to each other until they disappeared from her sight.

Time wasted: three minutes and forty-two seconds.

Estimated time to reach room: thirty minutes and twenty-one seconds.

She placed her wheelchair into autopilot, letting the transport take her to her room while she reviewed the Hope's Peak situation on her monitor. She checked the news, and as always the page was filled with articles talking about the school.

Hope's Peak Academy was currently undergoing a crisis. The student council had been murdered, with the only known suspect being a teenager named Izuru Kamukura. Suspect had apparently been created through the use of unethical means by the Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee's attempts to keep this under wraps had failed. The information was leaked to everyone in the Reserve Course, resulting in the mass protest plaguing the school. The entity who leaked such classified information was currently unknown.

Objective sent by the Steering Committee: Head to the academy and provide assistance to the Main Course students until the situation was resolved.

Caution, annoyance levels were at critical condition. Teenagers were a difficult group to work with. Their emotional maturity was often not fully developed, resulting in many difficult sessions and headaches. Still, working with teenagers was preferable to working with children.

The wheelchair stopped its movement. She looked up from the monitor to the entrance of her room. She entered her passcode on the keypad located above the doorknob. Next, she placed her face close to the biometric scanner located below the keypad, letting the device scan her left eye. After that, she answered forty-three questions about her personal history, making sure to answer in a specific tone to pass voice verification.

And finally, she took out the key to her room and entered it into the doorknob, turning it to open the door.

She entered inside and turned on the lights. Her co-workers had often informed her that her room was too cramped; that the many shelves of books, notes, and monitors littering inside made it hard to move. Suggestions to move some of her items into storage were rejected. Her room was perfect the way it was. It was orderly, sterile, and most of all, devoid of other people.

She manoeuvred her wheelchair to an empty spot and stood up. She walked to the end of her room; in front of her were several monitors on a desk, their cables linked to a system unit underneath. With a button press the monitors lit up, and several seconds later her desktop appeared.

She grabbed a USB lying on the desk and inserted it into the system unit. There was only one thing she needed for her temporary stay at Hope's Peak. She began transferring all files related to the Neo World Program.

She frowned as she watched the files being transferred. The Neo World Program was a project created by Hope's Peak Academy. Developed for the purpose of providing therapy to individuals deemed a "lost cause" by society, the project had three main collaborators working on it. One was her, the other was the Ultimate Neurologist, and the other… was the Ultimate Programmer.

Her hands gripped the table. Caution, feelings of resentment were rising. Recommended action was to take deep, slow breaths. She began breathing in and out, and soon enough she regained her composure. Subject matter that involved the Ultimate Programmer had a tendency to make her… displeased.

She examined her room. Estimated time for download to finish: four hours and thirty-two minutes. Perhaps she should take this chance to relax…

… Negative, there was still work to do. There were still reports to write, appointments to schedule, and security protocols to update before going to Hope's Peak. Taking a break now would be inefficient.

She opened up one of the drawers attached to her desk, taking out a pen and a report that she hadn't finished. She sat down at the desk and began to write. Writing reports for five hours was not an idea people found fun, but for her, it was better than doing her job.

As she filled out report after report, her mind was thinking about the situation at Hope's Peak Academy. The situation at the school seemed to have a far bigger impact on Japan than she expected. If the situation was to remain unresolved, there was a chance that things would escalate beyond what anybody could imagine.

The chance of the situation being resolved in the next few months… five percent.

* * *

Y'know, building a multibillion-dollar corporation didn't seem all that hard. I mean, you really only need three key steps to build one.

Step one: Don't be poor.

Step two: Be charismatic or attractive.

And step three: Be friends with influential people.

You see? Three easy steps to become filthy rich! I wasn't exactly rich nor was I poor, so I was partway through step one. As for step two, I consider myself to be a pretty charismatic—and very cute to boot—person, so that step was pretty much done.

As for step three, well, I didn't have any influential friends. I didn't have any friends in general, but that's okay, because I know someone who surrounded himself with influential people in his everyday life.

That someone was my accomplice. He was by all appearances, a dull and ordinary boy with no remarkable traits to him. But despite being such a boring person, he managed to worm his way into becoming friends with a world-famous idol, the heir to the Togami Group, a detective from the famous Kirigiri family, a sham of a fortune teller and many others of varying fame.

But what was even more amazing was that he wasn't even dating anyone from his class! He had the perfect chance to get set up for life, and yet he hadn't made a move on anybody.

I stared at the yearbook in my hand. It was simply unacceptable that my accomplice wasn't in a relationship. How was I supposed to get rich if my accomplice wasn't getting into the pants of his classmates? That's why I came up with a perfect plan to get my accomplice a partner.

I exited my accomplice's room and headed towards the living room. Inside the room, my accomplice was sitting on the couch watching TV. On the screen, a news reporter was talking about "The Parade" occurring at Hope's Peak Academy.

I groaned. Parade this, parade that, on every single channel that was what everybody was talking about. It's gone so far they were even talking about it on the kid's channel! When I was on the kid's channel, the only thing I want onscreen was Socki the Sock. What I didn't want onscreen were two old farts discussing whether this was "the end of Hope's Peak Academy." We had the news channel for that y'know.

Still… I couldn't say I wasn't completely indifferent about the protests at Hope's Peak Academy. If things weren't resolved soon, my plans to build a multibillion-dollar company might be in jeopardy…

… Ah, what was there to worry about? I was sure everything's going to be fine in the end! This whole thing was going to blow over in the next couple of months.

Before I start the operation, I should enlist the help of my other accomplice. Since it's morning, the bear should be in the kitchen having a chat with my mum.

… Hmm, calling my adoptive parents mum and dad felt… foreign. But if it made them happy then I'd put up with it.

I approached the kitchen. As I got closer I could hear Kurokuma and my mum talking. Well, it was really just Kurokuma sprouting out nonsense while my mum said something once in a while.

"—And after the concert ended, Jimi Hendrix appeared in front of me!"

"Really!? Jimi Hendrix came to meet you!?"

"Yeah, and then Jimi was like 'Kurokuma, that was the best performance I've ever seen in my life." Then he took out a picture of me and asked me to sign it."

"Wow, you're really famous Kurokuma!"

"Of course Mrs Naegi, I'm fuckin' baller that's why! I'm surprised my billions of fans around the world aren't at my doorstep right now. Anyway, back to my dreams. So after I autographed Hendrix's picture, Jimmy Page came to me next and—"

I entered the kitchen. The bear was sitting at the kitchen table with a cigar in its hand, while my mum was at the sink washing the dishes. They turned their attention to me.

"Oh, Monaca," my mum said. "Is there something you need?"

"Yes, there is mum!" I said. "Can I borrow Kurokuma for a bit?"

"Huh? But I haven't finished telling her my story," Kurokuma said. "I'm about to tell her the best part of my dream!"

"You can do that later. Now come here please."

"Alright, Alright… I'm coming." Kurokuma got up from his seat and looked at my mum. "I'll tell you the rest of my awesome dream next time Mrs Naegi. The next part will be so good your mind's gonna fuckin' explode from the sheer amount of action in it!"

"Oh, that sounds so exciting!" my mum said, smiling at the bear. "I can't wait to have my mind explode!"

I motioned for Kurokuma to hurry up over to me. My mum waved us off as we exited the kitchen. Their conversation reminded me of a question I had yet to ask Kurokuma, so I took him to a corner in the living room.

"Hey, Kurokuma," I said. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing Monaca!" Kurokuma said. "Ask whatever it is on your mind."

"Are you trying to flirt with my mum?"

Despite lacking human facial features, the bear seemed shocked at my question.

"What the fuck!?" Kurokuma shouted. I glanced at my accomplice; he was staring at us from the couch.

"Nothing to see here Big Bro!" I called out to him. "Just continue on watching TV."

My accomplice kept staring at us with a distrustful expression, but he eventually returned to watching the TV. I focused my attention back on Kurokuma.

"So, are you actually trying to hit on her?"

"Hell no! Do I look like a homewrecker to you? Yeah, she's the perfect girl for me, but I'd never violate the bear code between me and my blood brother."

"You're talking about my dad?"

"Yeah, I ain't gonna hit on his girl. I'm not some shitty traitor; I have his back, and he has mine."

"Alright, that's all I wanted to hear."

"… But if I _was_ flirting with her," Kurokuma said, "would you have done something about it?"

"I would have erased your personality and rewrite you from scratch," I answered.

"Oooh, how scary! I love how heartless you can be Monaca, and I'm not saying that 'cause I was programmed to love you."

"Why thank you Kurokuma."

"So, was that all you wanted?"

"Nope. Now you're going to help me out with my plan."

I explained to Kurokuma my plan to get my accomplice a partner. The bear placed a cigar in its mouth once I was finished.

"So we're trying to get herbivore boy laid?" the bear said, taking out the cigar and letting out a puff of smoke. I didn't understand how it could do that with an unlit cigar, but that wasn't important at the moment. "It sounds pretty fuckin' easy to me. Teenagers are horny as shit; they'll bang anything that moves in their line of sight."

"Him getting laid is just a bonus," I said. "All that matters is that he gets with somebody rich. So are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

We approached my accomplice. He turned his attention to us once we were close to him.

"Hello, Big Bro!" I greeted. "How's your day going?"

"It's going fine I guess," my accomplice replied. "Although the news isn't exactly brightening up my day…"

"Cheer up Makoto. It's the news; they always exaggerate the bad stuff to get more views. Just wait a few more months and everything will be back to normal."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Soooo, how are your friends doing? They must be pretty worried about 'The Parade' happening at school."

"They're doing fine I think. The protests got them worried but like you said, maybe everything will be alright in the end."

"You think they're fine? Now, that just won't do Big Bro! You must make sure your friends are absolutely in tip-top condition!"

"It's nice that you care how my friends are doing Monaca…Wait. Why do you have my yearbook?"

My accomplice pointed to the yearbook in my hands. "Oh, this? I took it from your room of course," I said.

"Why?"

"Oh, you'll see. Now then…"

I flipped through the book until I found a photo of my accomplice and his friends. I held up the page to him.

"So, is there anyone on this page that you like?"

My accomplice stared at the page. "Um, I like everyone on it?"

"Is there anyone on this page you like _more?_ Perhaps someone who makes your heart beat fast whenever you see them?"

"Not really? I like all of my friends equally."

"… Let me rephrase that again. Who on this page—"

"Who do you want to bang?" Kurokuma said.

"… What?"

"You heard me. Who do you want to fuck?"

My accomplice raised an eyebrow. "I don't understand."

"What he's trying to say is who do you want to date on this page," I clarified.

"Who do I want to date? I'm not interested in dating anyone at the moment," my accomplice answered.

"Now, that can't be true. There has to be someone on this page you want to go out with. How about this; I point at somebody and you can just tell me whether you want to date them or not."

"I'm telling you I'm not—"

I placed the book on my lap and pointed to candidate one on the page. "How about idol girl? She can sing, dance, and I bet she's filthy rich! Not only that, but I also bet Komaru would be really happy if she became your girlfriend."

"I'm not interested in dating Sayaka."

"I completely understand! She's an idol, and we all know how crazy fans can get if their idol started dating someone. I think you dodged a bullet there Big Bro."

I pointed to candidate two. "How about this one? The super-smart detective from the famous Kirigiri family, a girl with a calm and mysterious demeanour… and probably very rich to boot! I think this one would be perfect for you!"

"I'm still not interested. Monaca, I'm telling you—"

"And that's absolutely fine with me! I talked to her once before and jeez, she's sooo boring to be around with! I think you deserve someone who's a lot more outgoing!"

I moved on to the next candidate. "How about doughnut girl? She's cheerful, attractive, athletic, and she's friends with me! She told me she was going to become a professional athlete, so if you start dating her now you'll be getting some of that sweet money—"

"Monaca!" my accomplice interrupted. "I'm not interested in dating any of the girls!"

"Oh, I see! I didn't know you swung the other way Makoto, but that's fine with me. Then how about you date Mister four-eyes here? He's good on the eyes and a bit of a prick, but I'm sure once you start dating him you'll melt that cold exterior and—"

"Monaca, listen. I'm not interested in dating anyone in my class."

"… I understand. It would be pretty awkward for you to date a close friend."

My accomplice smiled a little. "Yeah, that's right. I just want to remain friends with everyone."

"And that's fine with me. There's no need for you to date anyone in your class."

"I'm glad you under—"

I flipped to the next page. "Then how about we choose someone from this class?"

"Wait, that's not what I—"

I pointed to candidate four. "I think gamer girl is a good choice for you. Now, I know people think gaming won't make you any money, and while that was true in the past, we now have streaming platforms and gaming competitions in this age. I'm sure you'll get some good money if you date her, although I think she's seeing someone else at the moment. But that's okay; you just have to go in and take her first!"

"I'm not interested in dating her!"

"On second thought, how about you date baby-face here? Or maybe you can date the princess? No, wait, how about you date the girl who dances—"

"Monaca, stop."

The forceful tone from my accomplice made me look up from the page to him. He was frowning at me for some reason.

"For the last time, I'm telling you I'm not interested in dating anyone," he said. "I just don't feel like I'm ready to be in a relationship at the moment."

"Oh, come on," I said. "That can't be true. Aren't you at the age where the only thing on your mind is sex?"

"Yeah! You're horny as fuck aren't ya?" Kurokuma said. "I bet right now you're thinking about taking that girl you like out for a date. You'll go watch a cheesy romantic comedy with her, and maybe take her to that fancy restaurant you saw on the street. Once that's all done you'll take her to a love hotel, strip her clothes off, and— [REMOVED TO CONFORM WITH LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL CENSORSHIP LAWS]—all over her yeah?!"

"…"

Kurokuma took a drag from his cigar and let out a puff of smoke. "Yeah, I'm right aren't I? Of course I'm right, because it's me saying that! So anyway, what's the big idea with that blasted hedgehog gettin' a live-action movie before ya boy!? Fuck that guy and his shitty fuckin' games! Where the hell is my live-action mov—"

"Be quiet."

The bear froze on the spot; its body convulsing side to side from my command.

"What's happening to Kurokuma?" my accomplice asked.

"He's in silent mode," I answered. "Sometimes his talking can be quite irritating y'know? Anyway, let's talk about getting you a partner."

"I don't want a partner. Why are you so persistent in getting me into a relationship in the first place? Is this another one of your schemes? It is, isn't it?"

"Why do you think I'm always scheming? Monaca's not some cartoon villain in a show. Maybe Monaca is just worried that her Big Bro would stay single forever."

"Really now?"

"…I need money, alright?"

"I knew it." My accomplice sighed and lowered his face into one of his hands.

"Listen Makoto; just get with anybody from Hope's Peak. I don't care what class they're from or who they are; I'm fine with pretty much anyone so long as they're not from the Reserve Course."

"So you wouldn't mind if I get with somebody like Yasuhiro?" he said, looking up at me.

"Who was that again? Are you talking about that conman disguised as a fortune-teller? If you are then yes! I have absolutely no problem with you dating him. I heard there are some powerful people looking for him, and they're willing to pay _very_ good money if you brought him to them."

"I'm not selling out one of my friends."

I was starting to get a little irritated at him. Why was he making everything so difficult?! I thought teenagers were supposed to be high on sex hormones, but my accomplice here had the sex drive of a brick!

I sighed and leaned back in my wheelchair. "Makoto, please. This is your best chance to get into a relationship, because once you're a working adult you can say bye-bye to getting a partner."

"That can't be true," he replied. "There are people out there who find their partners in their thirties and beyond."

"They're the exceptions to the rule. The older you get the harder it is to score a date, so why not start now rather than later? I mean you have the perfect attribute! You can date anyone from Hope's Peak Big Bro!"

My accomplice looked a bit interested in what I had to say now. "And what attribute would that be?"

"You're unremarkable! You're like bread; by yourself, you're plain, boring, and quite frankly bland to eat."

Annnnd now he was frowning again. "Wow. Thanks for the compliment."

"But it's because you're so unremarkable that you can be paired up with anyone! If you're plain bread then everyone at Hope's Peak are the ingredients, and combined together your relationship is the tasty sandwich! Are you interested in dating now Big Bro?"

"I think I'll just wait for my one true love."

Eugh, love. Why were people so interested in finding the right partner for them? Just get with someone rich and famous; that's what I would do if I was even interested in a relationship. I was perfectly content in being single until the day I die.

"Don't tell me you actually believe in true love? Let me tell you something about love; it doesn't exist. Love is nothing more than a chemical reaction compelling people to breed. Love is nothing but a trap that results in doomed marriages and affairs. Love is— Hey! Where are you going?!"

Out of the blue, my accomplice stood up and was walking away from me! How dare he turn his back on Monaca! Couldn't he see that I was in the middle of a monologue?!

"I'm going to my room," my rude accomplice answered.

"You can't do that! You haven't even finished listening to my monologue yet!"

"I'll do that later."

"No! Stay back and listen to what I—"

My rude accomplice disappeared into the hallway of the house, leaving me alone with my other, still convulsing companion. I closed the yearbook on my lap.

"… Now wasn't that just rude," I said.

"It sure was!"

I turned my head. Kurokuma was taking another drag from his cigar.

"I didn't give you permission to exit silent mode."

The bear let out a puff of smoke. "Whaddya mean boss? Weren't you asking me a question?"

"No, I was talking to myself. Now be—"

"Whoa whoa boss! Now just hang on a minute!" The bear went into a defensive gesture with both hands held up at me. "If you tell me to shut up again I'm gonna die!"

"I don't see a problem with that."

"Awww, don't be like that Monaca. Admit it; underneath that ruthless exterior you have a soft spot for me dontcha?"

"… Fine, you can keep talking. But tone it down a little."

"As you wish! I knew you liked me, but then again who doesn't?"

Kurokuma howled with laughter. The bear could be very grating to deal with, buuut I had to admit that I did enjoy his presence sometimes. Not enough to stop me from wiping his personality if he got too annoying, but enough that I might feel a little guilty after the act.

Kurokuma stopped laughing. "So, what's next?" the bear said. "Are we still gonna try and get herbivore boy laid?"

"Nope," I replied. "It seems Makoto is the only teenager in the world that lacks a libido. Let's ask his sister instead! I'm sure she would be eager for the chance to date someone from Hope's Peak."

We headed off to my sister's room. The door to her room was closed, so I knocked on it and called out for her.

"Big Sis! Are you in there?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah I am!" my sister replied.

"Can I come in? I want to talk to you about something."

"Sure! Come on in Monaca!"

I opened up the door. Komaru was hunched over her desk with a pencil in one hand. Littering the floor around her were scrunched up papers, despite there being a small bin next to her desk.

"Looks like you've been busy," I said, approaching my sister with Kurokuma close behind. I noticed that she had a book opened up on her desk. "Were you drawing?"

The girl closed the book as soon as I got close. She also covered the book with her arms as if she was trying to protect it. "Y-Yeah! I was," she said, laughing a little.

Her laughter felt off. My sister seemed to be nervous for some reason. I picked up one of the scrunched papers and began to open it up—

"No!"

—But my sister grabbed the paper off me before I got a good look. She scrunched up the paper again and dumped it into the bin.

"What's wrong Big Sis?"

"Nothing! Everything's perfectly fine here."

I picked up another scrunched paper. My sister grabbed that off me before I could even open it. She dumped that in the bin as well.

"I think there's something wrong here, to be honest."

"Oh, it's just your imagination."

"Then why won't you let me see what's on these papers?"

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Kurokuma said. "You drew some porn of your favourite characters or somethin'?"

"What!? N-No no no, I'm not some pervert!"

I turned to look at Kurokuma. I didn't need to say anything; the bear seemed to have got the message as it covered its mouth with its paws. I focused my attention back to my sister.

"Please forgive Kurokuma for what he said Big Sis," I said. "He has a bad habit of not keeping his mouth shut at times."

"It's fine…" My sister sighed, crossing her arms on her desk and laying her head down on them. "Just to be clear, I absolutely did not draw anything dirty alright?"

"I believe you. So, why are you trying to stop me from seeing your drawings?"

"It's just…Well… Promise me you won't laugh?"

"I promise!"

It took a moment, but my sister grasped the book underneath her arms and held it up to me. I didn't know why she was so worried about this. I was sure her drawings weren't as bad as she was making them out to be. I grabbed the book and opened it up to the first page.

… Oh.

"It's bad, isn't it…?" my sister mumbled out. She was looking at me with a defeated expression.

Well… What's a nicer way to say something was crap? I usually wouldn't care if I hurt someone's feelings with my words, but my sister here was a bit sensitive. I need to be gentle with my criticism so my sister's feelings wouldn't be hurt—

"Oh my god! What's wrong with her face?!" Kurokuma shouted.

"Be silent."

The bear froze and began twitching on the spot. My sister looked frightened at what was happening to Kurokuma.

"Wh-What's happening with Kurokuma?"

"It's nothing to worry about Big Sis. He'll be fine! Now, as for your drawings… Well, I must admit that they're not that great…"

"I knew it…" My sister buried her face into her arms. "I really can't draw to save my life huh. Maybe I should just give up…"

Now, this wouldn't do. I couldn't proceed with my plan if my sister was depressed. I think I should regurgitate one of those speeches my accomplice gave me in the past. I was sure she'd be right as rain hearing my accomplice's words.

"Listen Komaru," I said, leaning close to the girl. "Not everyone starts off the best at their hobbies. You remember my drawings, yes?"

"Yeah…"

"I didn't start off that good from the start. My earlier drawings were really, reallllly bad Big Sis. They were sooo bad your drawings look like the Mona Lisa compared to mine."

"You're exaggerating." Even though most of her face was covered up, I could see her smiling underneath her arms. I just need to say a few more words of encouragement.

"But I'm not. If I could I would show you my earlier drawings, buuuut I destroyed them all. What matters is that you don't let these failures hold you down. Sure, your drawings won't be the prettiest thing in the beginning, and you might want to tear your eyes out every once in a while. But so long as you keep on moving forward, you'll grasp your dream."

Or not. There's a slight chance that she'd never become a decent artist until the day she dies, but I wasn't trying to destroy her self-worth here.

My sister lifted herself up from her desk. That depressed face she was sprouting before was gone. Now she looked determined.

"You're right!" my sister said. "Every great artist has to start somewhere, so I'll just have to push through and keep drawing!"

"That's the spirit!" I said, and held the book towards her. She grabbed it, opened it up to an empty page and began to draw on it with vigour. Mission successful! I got to admit that my accomplice's speeches could be pretty useful. Maybe I should actually try and listen to him more often.

But anyway, it's about time to start getting my sister a partner.

"Say, Big Sis, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Huh?" My sister glanced at me for a moment before she looked back at the book. "Uh, no, I don't."

"Have you had any experience with romance?"

"Experience? Well, I give love advice on the internet. Does that count?"

"Absolutely!" I picked up the yearbook on my lap and opened it up to the page I want. I held the page up to her. "Who do you want to make love with on this page?"

The point of the pencil my sister was drawing with snapped, leaving a black dot on the page of her book. My sister focused her attention on me; she was blushing and had a shocked look on her face.

"Wh-What was that Monaca!?"

Did I not make myself clear? Perhaps I should clarify it better. "Who do you want to have sex with Big Sis?"

"You're not even supposed to know what sex is at your age Monaca! What happened to your innocence!?"

"Never had it to begin with. Now, please point at someone on the page."

"I-I'm not interested in dating anyone! Well, I am, but I don't think I'm ready for that type of commitment yet."

Was this some kind of joke? Even my sister was uninterested in a relationship. What's wrong with these teenagers?

"Relax Big Sis. Starting a relationship right now isn't so bad, so just give it a try."

"It's okay, really! Besides, I don't think any of the Ultimates are interested in dating a plain girl like me."

"You should have more confidence in yourself. I think you're pretty attractive for a girl your age!" Then again, all the girls at Hope's Peak were easy on the eyes as well. "And it's not like you have to date any of the Ultimates. My friend doug— Hina, has a younger brother. Maybe you can think about dating him?"

"I appreciate that you're trying to help me Monaca, but I'm just not interested."

… I closed the yearbook and placed it back on my lap. Fine, if they didn't want to choose their partner then I'd do it myself.

"Um, I'm sorry if I made you upset," my sister said.

"Don't worry Big Sis. I'm not mad!" I said, smiling at her. I was just very disappointed with you.

"Are you sure? You seem a bit mad at me…"

"You're imagining things. Why don't I help you out with your drawings? Monaca can teach you some tricks that'll help you out."

"Really? That'll be great! Thanks, Monaca."

"No problem. We're sisters after all, and sisters help each other out."

For the next couple of hours I observed my sister while she drew, giving out some advice every now and then. My mind, meanwhile, was focused on finding the perfect partner for the two siblings. I came up with thousands of scenarios with various pairings, and I eventually found the perfect match.

My sister would get together with doughnut girl's brother. The Ultimates at Hope's Peak Academy were a bit above her league, so he was the perfect option for her.

As for my accomplice, he would be paired with the best possible girl for him. The smartest, prettiest, and most charming person there was in the entire world, Junko Enoshima! She passed all the criteria I had. Was she rich? Yep. Did I like her? Absolutely!

The only problem was to set up the scenario to get them together. I hadn't visited Big Sis Junko for a while now, and she hadn't texted me back as well. If she was busy with her day job it was going to be hard to set—

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I picked it up and speak of the devil; I got a message from Big Sis Junko!

_Hey Monaca! It's been a while since we last talked. How are you doing?_

I sent her a message. _Hello Big Sis! Monaca's doing fine at the moment. She's very, verrrry sorry she hasn't been visiting you lately._

_It's okay! We all have things to do in our lives. That's actually why I texted you. Want to meet up tomorrow morning?_

Today must be my lucky day! The perfect opportunity to get my accomplice a partner just fell on my lap. I should be called the Li'l Ultimate Lucky Schoolgirl for all of these lucky coincidences.

_I definitely want to meet up Big Sis! If you don't mind, can I bring Makoto with me? And can I pick the time and place to meet up?_

_Sure, go ahead. Can you also bring me the blueprints for Monokuma? You'll be helping me soooo much if you showed me them._

_Of course!_

_Thanks, Monaca! See ya tomorrow!_

_See ya Big Sis!_

I looked at my sister. It took her three hours, but she had finally drawn something that vaguely resembled a human. She was now holding the book in her hands, admiring what she had achieved.

"Hey, Big Sis," I said. "I'm going to go now if that's okay with you."

"Yeah… it's fine…" my sister responded, not even turning to face me. It seems she's too captivated by her drawing at the moment. I moved away from her towards the door, but I turned around when I realised I forgot something.

"You may move now Kurokuma."

The bear exited silent mode. "Holy shit, I'm finally free!" Kurokuma shouted. the bear took out the cigar in its mouth and let out a big puff of smoke. "It only took like ten thousand fuckin' years."

"Hurry up and get over here."

"As you wish boss!"

Kurokuma approached me, and we departed towards my accomplice's room. The door was closed, but I didn't really care and threw it open anyway.

My accomplice was lying on his bed, reading a manga in his hands. My intrusion caused him to flinch and drop the book onto his torso.

"Hello, Big Bro!" I shouted. "I've come to make an announcement!"

"What the— Couldn't you at least knock!?" my accomplice said. "You almost gave me a—"

"I got you a date!"

"What? Didn't I already tell you I—"

"Yeah yeah, you don't feel ready to date or something. But it's too late; I already said to Big Sis Junko that you're coming with me."

I explained to my accomplice my arrangement with Big Sis Junko tomorrow. "Is that it? It sounds like we're just going to meet up," he said, moving his body so that he was sitting on his bed.

"Oh, it's definitely a date," I said. "Once I give Big Sis Junko the blueprints I'm going to give you two some alone time. During that time I want you to wow her with your… unique charms."

"But I don't really want to go into a relationship with Junko. It's not because I dislike her or anything; I just value our friendship enough that I don't want to risk ruining it."

"Aww, how nice. You care very deeply about your friendships Big Bro, but sometimes you just gotta take risks in the name of love."

"I thought you said love doesn't exist?"

"Did I? I think you're misremembering things. Kurokuma!"

"Yes Monaca!" Kurokuma responded.

"Bring out the paper."

"Right away!"

The bear dashed towards my accomplice, kneeling down beside the bed to take out a large, rolled-up sheet of paper.

"Now stand over there and show us what's on it."

I pointed to a corner in the room. The bear moved to the spot and opened up the paper for us to see. Written on the paper were names, and next to the names on the right was a grading.

"What am I looking at?" my accomplice said.

"You're looking at a tier list!" I answered. "This tier list is a ranking of everyone in class seventy-seven B and class seventy-eight, all ranked based on whether they're the perfect partner for you. Tier lists are pretty subjective most of the time, but I assure you; this tier list was created with no bias whatsoever!"

"Monaca, you only wrote six things on it. I don't see all of my classmates on that list. In fact, not everyone in class seventy-seven is on that list as well."

"What are you talking about? I can clearly see that everyone is on that list. Let me explain it all to you."

I pointed to the name at the top of the list. "As you can see, in SSS tier we have Big Sis Junko herself! I don't need to explain why she's in that tier now, do I? But if you're wondering why it's because she's perfect and she's friends with me. If you date her you're never going to have a dull moment in your life.

"And in SS tier we have her sister, Big Sis Mukuro! She's a soldier, so I bet she killed tons of people! That by itself would have placed her in S tier, but since she's Big Sis Junko's sister I placed her in SS."

I continued down the list. "In A tier we have doughnut girl. She's okay I guess. As I said in the past, she's a bit too active for my taste. But if you can't get with Big Sis Junko or Big Sis Mukuro, she'll be the next best thing for you.

"Next, in C tier we have that programmer girl. She's a bit timid and not a friend of Monaca, but she helped her in creating Kurokuma, so she placed her in C tier."

"Actually," my accomplice said, "Chihiro is a…"

"She's a what?"

"… Nevermind. Please continue."

Now, what was that about? I was a bit curious about what he almost said, but I decided to continue on with my explanations. I pointed to the second to last tier, which only had the words "the rest" written on it.

"In F tier we have everyone else. This encompasses everyone who's not a friend of Monaca, so basically the rest of your classmates and most of class seventy-seven."

And last but definitely the least, I pointed to the final tier.

"…Do I really need to explain why he's in trash tier, Big Bro? Even though he's rich, dating him is frankly the worst possible outcome for both of us. Let's try and avoid that option, okay? Close the paper now Kurokuma."

Kurokuma closed the paper. I placed a smile on my face before I asked, "So how's that Big Bro? Are you convinced to date Big Sis Junko?"

"Not really. Can't I just stay friends with her?"

I stopped smiling. I thought I gave him enough reason to date Big Sis Junko, but it looks like I hadn't. I guess it's time for me to do a bit of manipulation…

I lowered my head a little and directed my gaze away from my accomplice. "I guess you could just stay friends, Big Bro…" I muttered, making sure I sounded as sad as possible when saying it. "I really believe you two can work together as a couple, but I guess I'll never find out…"

I glanced at my accomplice. He had a hand under his chin and his eyes were looking down at the ground. It seems like he was thinking about something. My manipulation techniques had been getting less effective on him over time, but they still had at least a seventy-five percent success rate.

"… Alright, fine. I'll try and ask Junko out for a date…" my accomplice said.

I dropped my sad act. "You've made an excellent decision!" I said. "You won't regret this Big Bro!"

"I sure hope so…"

I moved towards my accomplice's closet. "Let's get you prepared for your date tomorrow. There's no way you're meeting Big Sis Junko with those drab clothes."

I opened the closet and began searching for some appropriate clothes. My search was in vain, however, as apart from his school clothes my accomplice's closet was filled with green hoodies and black jeans.

"… What the hell is this Makoto? Why do you only have these crappy clothes in your closet?! Don't you wear anything else?!"

"I just like wearing these clothes," my accomplice replied. "And it's not like you can criticise me for wearing the same clothes every day. You've been wearing that same dress ever since you started living here!"

"… True. Okay, you can wear those clothes for the date."

I closed the closet and approached my accomplice. "How about we focus on how to sell you to Big Sis Junko? Pretend that I'm her and you're trying to go on a date with me. Tell me why I should even _think_ to go out with you?"

"Um… I'm nice?"

… Oh boy, this was going to be rough.

"Makoto, being nice doesn't mean anything. Anybody can be nice. _I_ can be nice. The sky can be _nice._ You need to have something else other than 'I'm nice' if you want someone to go out with you."

"But I really don't know what's special about me. I'm a pretty average teenager."

"Why do you sell yourself short? There is something special about you Big Bro; you have resolve. No matter how hard things get you always keep pushing forward. Even when I mocked your ideals and kept trying to break your spirit, you never gave up. And that, Makoto, is what I respect the most from you."

"… Wow."

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Why didn't you say that instead of calling me a piece of bread?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "The bread analogy is still true though. But as you just heard, you do have something special about you Makoto. Let's start this again, and this time I want you to try, okay?"

"Yeah, I will Monaca." My accomplice smiled at me. He's pretty hopeless if I had to spell out what's special about him. Still, I gave him a smile of my own.

"Good! Now tell me, why should Big Sis Junko even _think_ to go out with you?"

* * *

I checked the time on my phone. Five more minutes left until Big Sis Junko arrived here. I glanced at my accomplice. He was tapping on our table every second with his fingers while he observed the entrance.

"Calm yourself Makoto," I said. I grabbed a doughnut from the box in between us and took a bite out of it. "She'll be here in a few minutes."

My accomplice stopped his annoying tapping. He sighed and leaned back on his chair. "Sorry Monaca," he said. "I just can't stop myself from feeling anxious."

"What's there to be anxious about? You talked to her plenty of times yes?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't trying to ask her out on all those times. What if I say the wrong thing?"

"You won't. Now eat a doughnut."

I motioned at the box of doughnuts. He reached out for the box, took out a doughnut, and started eating it. I looked around the store we were in. Ah, the doughnut store. The place where I got taken hostage and had a knife pressed to my neck. I smiled at the fond memory. I took several items out from my pocket and held it to my accomplice.

"Take these Makoto."

His eyes widened once he saw what was in my hand. His free hand grabbed the items from me as soon as they appeared, and he shoved them inside his pocket. He leaned in close to me.

"Monaca…!" he whispered. "Why do you even have these in your pocket…!?"

"What's wrong with having some protection on hand?" I answered. "I bought all the sizes in the store, so when you have time check which one has the right measurement for you."

"You don't have to go this far…! I doubt me and Junko would be doing that…"

"You can never be too careful Makoto. If things start to get steamy between you and Big Sis Junko, you'll thank me for giving you these. You don't want to end up with a mistake like me right? One Monaca is enough for this world."

"You're not a mistake Monaca."

"Eh, I doubt that. Unless you're really keen to continue your bloodline, try and avoid having any children Big Bro. Take it from a kid herself; they're not worth the stress."

My accomplice looked behind me. "She's here."

"Hmm?"

I turned my attention to the entrance of the store; two girls were standing there. The girl surveying the store without any emotion was Big Sis Mukuro. The girl with the ponytail next to her had to be Big Sis Junko; she was covered from head to toe I couldn't make out her entire face.

The trench coat wearing girl noticed us staring at her. She gave us a little wave and approached our location, her sister following close behind.

"Hey guys!" she said, sitting down next to me. Big Sis Mukuro sat down next to her sister. She moved the black-tinted sunglasses down a little so we could see her eyes. "How's my look? It's pretty inconspicuous right?"

"I wouldn't exactly say it's inconspicuous…" my accomplice said. "We're getting a couple of looks inside the store."

I glanced around us. Some of the customers inside were staring at Big Sis Junko.

"Are you sure about that Makoto? If it wasn't, then everyone would be crowding around me asking for an autograph."

"That's true."

Big Sis Junko turned to me. "So Monaca, do you have the blueprints with you?"

"I do!" I unzipped the schoolbag attached to my wheelchair, taking out a book from it. I flipped to the page containing the blueprints and handed it to Big Sis Junko. "I have some other designs on the next page if you want to see."

She flipped to the next page of my book. On it was a blueprint to develop a ball version of the bear. Now then, time for me to leave so my accomplice could start wooing her.

"Hey, Big Sis Mukuro! Can I ask you a favour?" I said, attracting the attention of the girl. "Can you take me somewhere?"

Big Sis Mukuro turned her head to her sister. "Do what she said," Big Sis Junko said, without even looking up from the page. Big Sis Mukuro got up from her seat, and we departed out from the store.

I started moving down the street, my companion following right beside me. I took a peek at Big Sis Mukuro. I didn't have many interactions with this girl, mostly because she was too quiet, and also because she was always away on some errand somewhere. I think now would be a good time to rectify that.

"Where are we going?" Big Sis Mukuro said. Her tone was rather monotonous compared to her more expressive sister.

"We're going to a back alley!" I said.

"For what purpose?"

"Well, you see…"

I explained to Big Sis Mukuro my brilliant plan to pair my accomplice up with her sister. She didn't seem rather impressed though.

"And that's the gist of it!" I said. "Are you fine if Makoto starts dating your sister?"

"… I have no complaints," Big Sis Mukuro replied. Huh, I thought she would put up more of a fight, but this was fine!

"Thank you so much Big Sis Mukuro! Now before I forget, is there a special someone in Big Sis Junko's life?"

"Yes."

…Uh oh. I was not aware of this fact. "Oh? Who is it?"

"Yasuke Matsuda, the Ultimate Neurologist, and Junko's childhood friend."

Wow, he had a useful talent _and_ he's a childhood friend? Surely my accomplice would have no trouble winning Big Sis Junko over.

"So I take it she's dating him?"

"No."

At least that's one good thing. Now my accomplice had a zero point two percent chance of winning. We managed to find a nice, quiet back alley along our trip and entered it, positioning ourselves away from the garbage containers in the alley. I grabbed my schoolbag and took out a laptop from it.

I placed the laptop on my lap and opened it up. While waiting for my program to load on the screen, I started another conversation with Big Sis Mukuro.

"So, Big Sis Mukuro, you were a member of Fenrir yes?" I said.

The girl leaning on the wall next to me nodded. "How was your time with them? The internet doesn't contain much information about Fenrir, so I'm realllly curious about what they were like."

"They were fine."

"…"

"…"

"… Can you elaborate a bit more? How about your teammates? What were they like?"

Her expression didn't show it, but it looks like she's thinking of what to say. After a couple of seconds, she said, "They were professional, although eccentric and difficult to work with at times. Fenrir was comprised of many people from all walks of life. Some were orphans with nowhere to go; some were wanted criminals on the run, and some were simply thrill-seekers."

"Were you close to any of them?"

"… Not really. Any one of us could die anytime, so getting attached to anyone was detrimental. It didn't stop my teammates, however, from forcing me into their activities."

"Such as?"

"Drinking in bars, poker nights, the occasional prison break when one of us got caught, and other similar activities."

"This Fenrir sounds like such a fun group to hang out with! I also read that members of Fenrir have a tattoo somewhere on their body. Is that true?"

"…"

The girl held up her right hand to me. With her left hand, she took off the glove covering her right, letting me see the tattoo of a wolf marked on it.

"Wow, that's soooo cool Big Sis Mukuro!" I said. "Is it waterproof?"

"It is," Big Sis Mukuro replied. "The person who tattooed this was the Ultimate Chemist. Even if my entire body gets burned in an explosion, the tattoo will remain unscathed. It makes it easier for Fenrir to identify fallen comrades and give them a proper send-off."

Her expression was still as blank as a piece of paper, but she seemed happy talking about her mercenary group.

"So… what happened to Fenrir?" I asked. "They just disappeared without a trace a few years ago."

For a moment, I thought I saw an emotion on Big Sis Mukuro's face. It looked almost like… regret, I think?

"… A rift formed in Fenrir," Big Sis Mukuro said. "More than half of my teammates turned against me, forcing me to kill them. The rest left me behind and disappeared, so I returned to Japan."

… Well, I wasn't expecting an answer like that.

"I'm sorry if I brought up some painful memories."

Big Sis Mukuro didn't respond. She placed the glove back on her right hand, and returned to giving me that emotionless stare. It felt pretty awkward, so I looked back at my laptop screen.

Oh goodie, the program finished loading! With a couple of clicks, the screen was now showing an image of Big Sis Junko, still looking at the book in her hand. I had attached a tiny device on the hoodie of my accomplice, near enough that I could speak to him in secret.

"Testing, testing," I said. "Can you hear me, Big Bro?"

"Yeah, I can…" my accomplice whispered.

"How's everything going? Have you talked to her yet?"

"No… she's still looking through the book…"

"Well, when she finishes start talking to her."

"Okay…"

I minimised the program. At this time my sister should be meeting up with doughnut girl's younger brother. It took a while, but I managed to guilt-trip her into meeting up with the boy.

I opened up another program and started established a connection to Kurokuma. It took only a couple seconds for the laptop to connect to the bear's left eye.

"Kurokuma, can you read me?"

"Loud and clear boss!" Kurokuma responded. On the screen, I could see my sister talking to doughnut girl's brother in the distance.

"How's the situation there?"

"Lookin' pretty good so far." The bear let out a puff of smoke, covering my screen for a while until it disappeared. "They'll be bangin' each other in no time."

"Good. Report to me if there are any complications."

I switched back to the previous program, just in time to see Big Sis Junko placing my book on the table. She crossed her arms and leaned back on her chair, looking around the store with a bored expression.

"They sure are taking their time," Big Sis Junko said, no doubt talking about us.

"Yeah, they are."

"…"

"…"

"… What are you doing Big Bro? Start flirting with her!"

"… Nice weather we have today huh?"

Oh god, we were not even a minute in and the date was already ruined!

"Yeah, it is," Big Sis Junko responded. I could see her let out a yawn on the screen.

"What are you doing!?" I shouted. "Never use the weather as a topic unless you absolutely have to Makoto!"

"Well, what was I supposed to say…!" my accomplice whispered.

"Something other than the weather!"

"Is something wrong there Makoto?" Big Sis Junko was staring at my accomplice with a curious look.

"Uh, no! Everything's fine!" my accomplice responded.

"Quick! Change the topic!"

"So uh, how are you doing Junko?"

Big Sis Junko shrugged her shoulders. "I've been doing fine. It's getting harder to go to school due to 'The Parade' happening though."

I leaned back in my wheelchair, rubbing my forehead in an attempt to soothe the migraine I was feeling. The situation seemed to be under control for now.

On my screen, Big Sis Junko leaned closer to my accomplice. "How about you Makoto? Are you feeling alright? You must have been shocked to learn what Hope's Peak Academy was doing behind closed doors."

"I was," my accomplice responded. "To think that Hope's Peak Academy was doing human experimentation… it makes me feel disappointed with the school."

"… Really? Don't you feel angry or even worried? It's because of the school that the student council all got murdered, and now our future is looking grim every day. Doesn't that give you just a little, tiny bit of despair?"

"I am worried about my future, and I am angry at what the school's been doing, but despairing about the situation isn't going to do me any favours. The only thing I can do is keep moving forward and hope everything will turn out fine."

"… You sure are a tough one to crack Makoto," Big Sis Junko said. Even though she sounded calm, I thought I detected a bit of… anger within her voice. "I sure hope you're right about this."

"I hope so as well. Thanks for looking out for me Junko."

"No problem!" Big Sis Junko gave my accomplice a big smile. "It's my job as class representative to look out for my fellow classmates. Can I ask you a question about something?"

"Sure thing."

"Let's say you're a general fighting a war. You found a couple of people who would make perfect soldiers for your army, people who would definitely turn the tide in your favour."

"Okay."

"The problem here is you don't know them personally. You don't really have time to know them better because, you know, you're fighting a fucking war and don't have time for that shit. But if you don't, there's a chance they won't fight as efficiently as they could. So what would you do Makoto? Do you conscript them to save time but risk having them fight half-assedly for you? Or do you get them loyal to you but at the risk of losing the war?"

This was quite an interesting question. If it was up to me I would definitely conscript them, but I already knew what my accomplice was going to say.

"… I would try and get to know them better," my accomplice answered.

"Are you sure you want to do that Makoto? You might lose the war."

"I know, but I think it's worth the risk. Are you playing some sort of strategy game?"

"Something like that."

"I hope my answer was some help to you."

"Oh, it was. I'll be sure to take your advice to heart."

Now, wasn't this nice! My accomplice helped out Big Sis Junko with a problem! Perhaps there was still a chance he could—

—Wait. What's happening behind Big Sis Junko? My accomplice noticed what was happening behind her as well, as he then said, "Hey Junko, look!"

"Hmm?" Big Sis Junko turned around. A man was on his knees, presenting a small box containing a ring to a girl. Everyone in the store was looking at them.

"Kei, will you marry me?" the man said, beaming at the woman. The woman who I presume to be Kei, however, seemed verrry uncomfortable about this situation.

"Kazuki, I… I decline."

The man's bright expression died. I could even pinpoint the exact second his heart got ripped in half.

The woman ran away from the man. "Kei, wait!" the man cried out, but the woman was already out of the door. The man stayed where he was, his head down as his hand dropped the ring box to the ground. The people in the store turned their attention elsewhere; a look of pity could be seen on most of their faces.

Seeing the man look so pathetic made me smile a little. It's been a while since I saw a man in despair. I quite miss seeing that look on people's faces…

Big Sis Junko turned herself around to face my accomplice. She smiled and said, "Well, that was quite the massive screw up, wouldn't you agree?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"I mean proposing in a doughnut store, really? Have some fucking tact won't you? At least choose someplace romantic. But… don't you think this is a much better outcome than if she accepted?"

"What do you mean?"

"If she accepted their future would be the same as all the other couples in the world. They'd get married, have twins, become unhappy with each other, get a divorce… Their lives would be so boring, so predictable. But now things are a lot more interesting. What will the man's future be like now? Will he swore off love forever and live to become a lonely, grouchy old man? Maybe he'll start drinking his sorrows away at a bar? Despair is so unpredictable, so chaotic; it offers so many interesting possibilities than hope, wouldn't you agree?"

Big Sis Junko sure liked to talk about despair huh. "I know what you're thinking Big Bro," I said, "but just agree with her."

"… I don't agree with you about hope," my accomplice said. "I think hope can offer just as many possibilities as despair."

… What was my accomplice doing? "Makoto, what the hell are you doing? Just agree with Big Sis Junko and move on to another topic."

"Oh? Please do explain to me why you think that?" Big Sis Junko asked.

"It's nothing that complicated. Take what you said about the man for example. If he falls to despair then yeah, what you said might come true. But if he holds onto hope, his future still holds many possibilities. Maybe he'll find another girl that's perfect for him; maybe he'll try again with the same girl, or maybe he'll help others who have also been rejected. Do you get what I mean?"

"…How interesting." Big Sis Junko was smiling, but something was telling me that she wasn't happy with my accomplice's answer.

"Damn it Makoto!" I shouted at the laptop. From the way the screen shook it seems like I surprised him. "Why couldn't you think with your other head!? Now Big Sis Junko is unhappy!"

"Wh-What do you mean…?" my accomplice whispered. "She looks pretty happy to me…"

"You know what? Since you obviously don't care about my advice, I'm going to let you handle this failure of a date. Goodbye, Big Bro."

"Wait, Mon—"

I closed the program and groaned. Operation get my accomplice a date had ended in failure, and it's all because he wouldn't throw away his ideals for Big Sis Junko. At least I still had the backup date. I started to re-establish my connection to Kurokuma. The screen was still black, but I started talking to the laptop anyway.

"Kurokuma, can you hear me? How's the da—"

"Stop! I said stop you… giant teddy bear!"

"Fuckin' cop, leave me the fuck alone! Don't you know who the fuck I am!?"

Oh great. What's happening here? I was finally connected to Kurokuma's left eye, and from the way the screen was shaking it looks like he was running away from something. The bystanders on my screen were all rushing out of the way of the moving bear.

"Kurokuma, what's going on?" I said. "Why are you running on the street?"

"I'm being chased by the cops Monaca!" Kurokuma replied.

"… Why exactly are you being chased by the police?"

"Well ya see I was getting a bit bored watching your sister on her date, so I thought I should help liven up the mood ya know? I started rapping a song of love in public, but then the fuckin' cops came and said I was causing a public disturbance!"

I began to massage my forehead again. Why was everything falling apart today?

Kurokuma looked back behind him. Right on his tail was a blonde policewoman.

"Oh shit, she's gaining on me! What the fuck do I do Monaca!?"

"I don't know, hide somewhere and try to sneak past her?"

"I tried to sneak past her, but I'm big as fuck and the sound of my gold chains keep alerting her!"

"Then throw away your gold chains."

"Fuck that! Do you know how much money I pai—"

Several police cars appeared on my screen, blocking Kurokuma's path. Several policemen came out of the cars and pointed their guns at the screen, causing Kurokuma to stop.

"Freeze! Put your hands— Paws, up in the air!" one of the policemen shouted.

"Whatcha gonna do, shoot me?" Kurokuma replied. "Don't you know that shooting a rapper only makes his career stronger? Go ahead and—"

Kurokuma suddenly toppled over on my screen. "I got you!" a voice shouted. "You're under arrest for indecent exposure, smoking indoors, and for attacking the ears of the public!"

"Get the fuck off me bitch! I'm Kurokuma! You can't arrest me!"

"My name is Misaki Asano! Now stop struggling!"

"Quick Monaca! Send some reinforcements! I don't want to spend a night in—"

I turned off my laptop. Well, there goes my dream of building a multibillion-dollar company. I turned towards Big Sis Mukuro. For the entire time I was talking, she had never changed that blank expression.

"… Do you know any good knife techniques Big Sis Mukuro?" I asked.

She raised an eyebrow at me. After a few seconds, she reached inside and took out a combat knife. She held the handle to me.

"Are you a fast learner?"

"I can be if I try."

* * *

Her sister entered the passenger compartment. She slammed the door shut, and on her face was a scowl directed towards her.

"Where the fuck were you?!" Junko shouted, causing her to flinch. Her sister leaned back on the seat and crossed her arms. "What could possibly be so important that you left me for _three hours_ with Makoto?!"

The limousine they were in started to move. "I-I'm sorry Junko!" she replied. "But, um, there's a perfectly good explanation for why I didn't come back!"

"Then spit it out already!"

"Y-Yes!"

She explained to Junko of Monaca's plan to get her with Makoto. By the time she was done explaining Junko had dropped her glare, and was staring at her with a blank expression.

"So let me get this straight," Junko said. "That brat wanted me to get with that piece of cardboard, and you allowed it because you thought it would give me despair?"

"Y-Yes!" she replied. "You always complained about how much he annoys you, so I thought if you spent some time with him you'll feel a bit of despair."

… Junko smiled at her. "And here I thought you weren't good at anything other than killing. How smart of you Sis."

Her comment made her heart flutter; Junko had praised her! She smiled at her younger sister. "Than—"

"Fuck no! You're dumber than a sack of bricks!"

Her smile dropped. "E-Eh? What's wrong Jun—"

"Did you actually think your plan gave me even a _miniscule_ of despair?! The only thing I felt from spending time with that herbivore boy was my brain cells dying!"

"B-But I thought doing things you hate gave you despair?"

Junko let out a groan. "And this is why I'm the one who makes the plans. Doing something I hate doesn't always give me despair. Watching paint dry on the wall? Despairful! Losing a game of chess? Despairful! Spending time with Makoto? Boring beyond relief. I'd rather kill myself than spend a single second within his presence."

Mukuro looked away from her sister, the happiness she felt dying inside her. She failed to bring her sister any kind of despair with her plan. Why was she always such a disappointment…?

"… But I guess it was a good effort from someone as disappointing as you."

She looked back at Junko. Did she mean that? Was her sister praising her for real?

"Do you really mean that?" she asked.

"Why of course Sis… Ugh, why are you smiling at me like that? You're making me want to wipe that ugly ass smile right off your face."

Junko reached into her trench coat pocket, taking out a pencil. With no warning, she swung the pencil at her face. It would have poked her left eye out had she not grabbed her hand at the last second.

Ah, Junko was trying to kill her. Her smile widened even more. She always loved these bonding moments between them.

"Ew, gross! Didn't I say for you to drop that smile?"

Junko escaped from her clutch and sent a flurry of stabs at her. She deflected each and every one of them. Ever since they were kids Junko had always tried to kill her. It didn't matter if she was in the bathroom or sleeping; if Junko was around she had to keep her guard up.

Not that she minded. She knew her sister better than anyone. Junko was only trying to taste the despair of killing her sister after all.

After a couple of minutes, her sister stopped trying to stab her. She felt disappointed at how short their bonding session was. Junko reached into her pocket again and took out a notepad, and began to draw on it.

"Did you get what you wanted Junko?" she asked.

"I did," she answered. "Monaca proved to be quite useful in the end. With these blueprints, I'm one step closer to plunging the world into despair."

"That's great! Now you can move on to producing those Kumada—"

"No! Don't you fucking dare call them that!"

"J-Junko!?"

Her sister was seething now. "Who does that brat think she is!? They're called Monokumas! Mono-fucking-kumas! What the fuck is a Kumadachi!?"

"Um… I'm sorry for calling them th—"

"Doesn't she know who I am?!" Junko continued. "I'm Junko fucking Enoshima! Even if I only had ten minutes of screen time in a long-running show, I will always be at the top of popularity polls! Even if I die in the end I'll still appear in all fifty-three seasons of the show!"

"Junko, please! You're starting to scare the driver."

"Scare the driver? He's lobotomised for fuck's sake!"

"That's why I'm worried, so please calm down Junko. You got what you wanted right?"

"…"

Junko made another attempt to stab her, but she blocked it. "I guess you're right," she said, and continued on drawing in the notepad. "You should work on fixing your crappy lobotomy skills, Sis."

"Of course! I'll be ready when it's time to brainwash class seventy-seven."

"Oh, we're not doing that anymore."

"Huh? Then what are you going to do to them then?"

"I'm going to make them fall to despair the good old fashion way. I'm sure they wouldn't mind spending some personal time with me."

She was confused. Junko would only drive someone to despair personally if they meant something to her, and she was sure Junko never cared for class seventy-seven.

"But… I thought you never cared for class seventy-seven?" she asked.

"Don't get me wrong; I don't give two shits about that class. Compared to my precious friends in class seventy-eight they're nothing but a bunch of chumps."

"So why?"

"It's because of Makoto. That herbivore boy gave me the idea during the three, agonising hours I spent with him. Class seventy-seven were going to become my loyal followers willingly, all because he suggested it to me. Isn't that a much better plan?"

"Yes! It definitely is Junko!"

"Of course it is. I don't even know why I asked you anyway."

Junko stopped drawing and ripped off the page on her notepad. She set it down beside her. Drawn on the page was a blueprint for a Monokuma unit. Junko resumed drawing on the new page of her notepad.

"…May I ask you a question Junko?"

"No."

"O-Okay…"

"… Jeez, fine. What do you want to ask?"

"Why don't we turn our classmates over to our side?" she asked. "They have far more useful talents than class seventy-seven, so I'm sure they would cause more damage to the world."

Junko stopped drawing. She gazed up at her, placing down the notepad and pencil on her lap.

"What a stupid question," Junko said. "Didn't I already tell you the reason why?"

"Umm…you never did?"

"Then let me explain it to you so clearly even your stupid brain can retain it. I've thought about recruiting my classmates to Ultimate Despair. Hell, I even made plans to make it happen."

"So, why aren't we…?"

"Because it wouldn't give me any despair. The thought of having my classmates by my side, spreading despair alongside me… it makes me feel…"

"… Junko?"

Her sister reached inside her trench coat, taking out several photos. She recognised them; they were the photos of their school lives with their classmates.

"…Whatever the case, I scrapped the plan because it didn't give me enough despair," Junko said. She looked at the first photo. "Ah, I remember this one. This was when we all went to the Sapporo winter festival. We all had fun when it was snowing in school, so I thought why not take it to the next level? We had lots of snowball fights, built the best snowman in the world, it was tons of fun. But arranging the trip made a fucking dent in my money. Also, why the hell is my face covered in this?"

Junko moved on to the next photo. "Oh hey, I forgot about this one! This was when I put that giant fish inside the swimming pool! I wanted to give everyone a heart attack, but unfortunately, Sakura uppercutted the fish out of the damn pool. Again, why the hell is my face covered in this as well?"

Junko continued looking on through the photos, and Mukuro saw it. A faint smile on her sister's lips, one caused not out of despair, but out of…

"…"

… But then Junko started chuckling. That chuckle grew higher and higher in volume until she was cackling inside the vehicle. That smile of pure joy was twisted into a smile of despair.

"Looking at all the precious memories made between my classmates… It just makes me even more excited to drive them all into despair!" Junko cried out, tossing the photos into the air as she continued her mad laughter. "I can't wait to see them all kill each other in my game! But for now, you and I need to protect our friends during these trying times. Can't have them fall to despair too soon you know?"

Mukuro watched the photos flutter down to the ground, her eyes focusing on one particular photo.

"… What are you looking at Sis?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing!"

Junko didn't believe her, as she picked up the photo she was focused on.

"Once again my face is covered in this photo," Junko said. "Fucking Kiyotaka, why couldn't he move a bit away from me? But, hang on, there seems to be someone missing from it."

"…"

"Now who could it be? Could it be you Sis? Oh wait; I can see your ugly mug right here. Maybe it's Mondo, or maybe it's Byakuya, or maybe…"

Junko continued to list out the names of their classmates. She was toying with her, for it was obvious who was the only one missing from the photo.

"…Maybe it's Makoto who's missing," Junko said. "It's strange how you went along with Monaca's plan to get him to date me. Aren't you afraid I might steal him from you?"

"Wh-What do you mean? You already have Yasuke right?"

"And? What, am I not allowed to have a harem? Maybe I should actually start dating him."

"…"

Junko smiled at her. "Relax Sis! I won't steal your crush from you."

"I-I'm telling you Junko… I don't have any feelings for him."

"Oh, you don't? If I tell you right now to go to his house and kill him, would you do it?"

"… Of course. Makoto was just some… loser in our class."

… Junko wasn't smiling anymore. The blank stare on her sister's face gave no hint at what she was feeling. Her heart was starting to beat fast from Junko's stare.

"… I'm sure we'll find out the answer soon enough," Junko said, shrugging her shoulders. "It should already be easy for you to betray our classmates. After all, you betrayed me when you ran away to join Fenrir. And when I finally tracked you down and asked you to come back to me, you betrayed your little mercenary group and ran all the way back to Japan. You're nothing more than a bitch who'll betray anyone I ask you to."

"…"

"But hey, it's nothing to feel bad about Sis. I mean, you didn't kill all of your Fenrir buddies. The ones who stuck by your side and watched you kill their comrades are now working for me, spreading despair all over the world. Just tell me who your favourite classmates are and I'll make sure they survive my killing game."

"No, it's okay Junko."

"You sure? I'm serious about my offer."

"Yes, I'm sure."

Junko shrugged her shoulders again. It was too late for her to back out now. She had committed countless crimes, killed many innocents, and betrayed those close to her all to earn her sister's affection. If she had to stain her hands with the blood of her classmates, then she'd do it without hesitation and remorse.

If Junko commanded her to kill Makoto, then she'd…

"Hey Sis, you know that I love you right? I say all of these awful things to you because it pains me to see you get hurt, even though you really are a smelly, stupid, good for nothing sister."

"Of course Junko. And I love you as well."

Junko took out a phone from her pocket, dialling in a number before placing the phone near her ear. She picked up the notepad and pencil from her lap and resumed drawing.

"Hello?" Junko said. "Is this Haiji Towa…? Who is this you ask? Oh, nobody special. I'm just a girl who's going to make you a very special offer…"

* * *

"…"

"…Um, Monaca? Are you still mad at me?"

I looked up from my phone to my accomplice. After saying goodbye to Big Sis Junko and Big Sis Mukuro, we were now on a train heading back to his house. We were sitting together in silence until now, minding our own business inside the empty carriage.

"Mad? Now, why would Monaca be mad at you?" I asked.

"It's just… I'm sorry for screwing things up with Junko," my accomplice said.

I sighed, just when I was starting to forget everything that happened today. It also brought to mind that Kurokuma was currently inside of a jail cell, right on the other side of town. I was going to wait until tomorrow to bail him out; he needed some alone time to think over his actions.

"Now that you brought it up… Yeah, I'm still mad at you."

"Sorry…"

My accomplice looked sad. Jeez, why was he getting mopey now? It's all in the past anyway.

"Cheer up Makoto," I said. "I forgive you for blatantly ignoring all of my advice. Next time, please listen to your reliable little sister."

"I still feel pretty bad though. We went through all that practice yesterday, and yet I failed to ask her out for a date in the end."

"And I'm telling you it's okay. Failure is a part of life after all. You're still friends with Big Sis Junko right?"

"I think so."

"Then you still have a chance. In your next meeting with Big Sis Junko, use this experience to win her heart for good Big Bro! Or maybe you could start dating Big Sis Mukuro instead! She showed me some cool knife techniques!"

"Is that so…" My accomplice had a worried look on his face.

"Yep! So if things don't work out between you and Big Sis Junko, you can always date her sister. I wouldn't recommend trying to date both at the same time though. Dating one girl is enough trouble; dating two means you hate your life, and dating three and above means you have a death wish. Trust me on this Makoto; women become dangerous creatures when they're high on hormones. You wouldn't survive."

"I'll take your advice to mind." My accomplice had a smile on his face now. He really shouldn't need a little girl like me to cheer him up, but I didn't mind being relied on from time to time.

I leaned back on my seat. While things today didn't go as well as I hoped, I still had a pretty fun time hanging out with Big Sis Mukuro.

… Although, there was this feeling that I couldn't shake off today. It's been growing over the past few days as well, this sense of… boredom in my life.

How strange. I guess I need to find something that could get rid of this feeling.


	11. Chapter 11

Monaca Towa gets into an argument.

I stared at the top of the classroom. The clock hands needed to move a tiiiny bit to the right and I could finally get out of here. I moved my focus from the clock onto the teacher, still explaining how to do stupid maths problems on the board.

I forced myself from scowling. I kept the smile plastered on my face, and clasped my hands on my desk to stop myself from fidgeting with anything. Ever since I told my accomplice about the prank on the school roof, I had to promise him to follow a series of rules.

Rule number one was to inform him of where I was as soon as school ended. It's a hassle to follow, but overall it's nothing to get too worked up about.

Rule number two was to behave myself at home and at school, so no more of my fun pranks. Okay, now I was starting to get annoyed. But it should be fiiiine right? I'd just find another source of entertainment.

… And then there's rule number three. Rule number three was that I must not do anything "harmful" to anyone at my school and my accomplice's school. I thought this rule was quite vague on what could be considered "harmful," but apparently it meant any activity that would result in them getting hurt, physically or emotionally.

I would understand if rule three only applied to my acquaintances and my accomplice's friends, but to _everyone_ from his school and my school? Wasn't that a bit much? It was thanks to this rule that I'd been feeling this sense of boredom in my everyday life. Even though I tried so many activities just to get rid of it, it wouldn't go away.

The school bell started ringing, signalling the end of school. The teacher turned away from the board to look at us.

"Alright class, that'll be the end of today's lesson!" the teacher called out. "Make sure to do your homework, but above all else stay safe out there okay?"

"Yes teacher!" we all said. Everyone in the room started picking up their school stuff. I waited for most of the students to be gone before I moved towards the back of the classroom. Standing there huddled together with schoolbags on their backs were my acquaintances. I couldn't think of them as my toys anymore. After all, toys were something you play around with to your heart's content, and I could no longer do that because of these stupid rules.

"Finally, we can go home!" the red-haired boy said. "Math class always makes me want to fall asleep."

"That's only because you're too dumb to understand it all," the pink-haired girl said.

"A-Am not! I can answer any math question no problem; I just don't because I want to give everyone a fair shot."

"Really? What's one plus one?"

"Pfft, easy! It's two!"

"What about twelve times twelve?"

"One hundred and forty-four!"

"What's one million times fifty thousand divided by twenty thousand divided by the square root of six hundred and twenty-five minus one hundred thousand?"

"That's… Um… Just give me a couple of seconds and I'll—"

"It's zero," the blue-haired boy answered.

"Wow! You're super-duper right Nagisa!"

"Hey! Who said you can butt in?! I was just about to answer the question!"

"I doubt that."

The red-haired boy was about to say something back, but then the creep spoke up.

"Uh… guys? Shouldn't we be going back to our house?"

"Golly, would you look at the time!" the pink-haired girl said. "We should all be heading back now!"

"Umm… that's what I just sa—"

"Yeah, let's leave right away!" the red-haired boy interrupted. "I want to start hunting some Demons!"

My acquaintances looked at me. Oh, so _now_ they noticed I was here? How rude; they used to give me their full attention whenever I was around.

"Hey Monaca, are you free this time?" the red-haired boy asked. "I want to show you my super awesome Demon hunting skills!"

Ugh, how annoying. For the past few weeks my acquaintances had been pestering me to join them in this "Demon Hunting." I had no idea what kind of game this "Demon Hunting" was, but it sounded childish, so I declined whenever they asked me to join.

But maybe I should just go for today. Even though I hung out with them at school, I feel like I was losing control over them. Perhaps joining them in this childish game would allow me to re-exert my influence, and it might even get rid this nagging sense of boredom…

… Or I could go home instead. Hanging out with them was a chore already, so why torture myself even further?

I looked down at the ground and forced myself to frown. "Sorry Masaru, but Monaca has to do her homework today…"

"Oh… okay. I guess I'll show you my cool moves next time."

I glanced at the window to the right of me. Standing by at the school gate was a hooded figure. I took out my phone from my skirt pocket; at this time I should be getting a text message right about…

My phone vibrated. I checked the front to see my accomplice's text message.

_Where are you Monaca?_

I sent him a message.

_I'm on the school roof with my friends!_

I looked at the window and saw that my accomplice was running towards my location. I sent him another message as fast as possible.

_I was joking! Look at the window!_

My accomplice's sprint towards the school slowed down a little after I sent the message. It was only when he checked the phone in his hand did he stop his mad dash. He was examining the school in front of him, his eyes passing by my classroom window until he did a double-take. I waved at him, and soon after my phone vibrated again.

_Don't joke about that Monaca! You almost gave me a fright. I'll be waiting for you outside, but don't take too long because I need to go somewhere._

_Okay! See you soon!_

I placed the phone back inside my pocket. How embarrassing; couldn't he tell that I was joking? My acquaintances were watching my accomplice the entire time as well, and they turned to me once he was walking back to the school gate.

"What was that about Monaca?" the blue-haired boy asked.

"Oh, nothing. He just took a joke way too seriously," I answered.

"Oh my, getting along with your adoptive family Monaca?" the pink-haired girl said. "I thought you said they were a group of monsters?"

"Well… I guess I was wrong."

The pink-haired girl covered her mouth. "No way! Monaca was _wrong_ for once? Did I step into another dimension!? But I guess this just proves Monaca isn't right all the time."

… Y'know, I couldn't help but feel like the pink-haired brat was getting too cocky around me.

"Of course, things might change in the future," I added, "so I might be right after all."

"That is a possibility," the blue-haired boy said. "Even if your family is treating you well at the moment, their attitude could change in the future."

"Ha! They definitely will!" The red-haired boy crossed his arms. "All adults are Demons anyway; I bet they're just hiding their true colours until Monaca lets down her guard. But don't worry! When that happens I'll come rushing in to save you!"

"Rushing in by yourself wouldn't help her at all. Going together would be the better option."

"Yeah, Nagisa is right as always!" the pink-haired brat said. "Did you forget that you needed help from Jataro for your first Demon kill?"

"Yeah Masaru," the creep said. "I had to cut up that Demon when its brains didn't splatter on the ground. But… it was kinda fun cutting it up into little pieces."

"W-Well it was my first time alright! Next time I'll kill a Demon all by myself!"

My acquaintances had quite the active imagination. They were making this "Demon Hunting" game sound fun to play! But unless they were actually killing something, Monaca was still not going to join them in playing this game.

The blue-haired boy approached me. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over to me. I examined the paper in my hand; written on it were numbers and the names of my acquaintances.

"What's this Nagisa?" I asked.

"It's our phone numbers," the blue-haired boy said. "Big Sis Junko gave each of us a phone recently. If you're ever in any danger from your adoptive family, call any of these numbers and we'll come to save you."

"Wow Nagisa! Thank you sooo much!"

"My my, I didn't know you could be so bold Nagisa," the pink-haired brat said. "Already planning to go on a date with Monaca?"

The blue-haired boy was blushing. "I-It's not like that! I-I'm just making sure Monaca has a way to protect herself, that's all."

"It better be!" the red-haired boy gave a glare to the blue-haired boy. "Don't think you can hog Monaca all to yourself!"

"I'm telling you it's not like that!"

"Oh no guys, Nagisa is burning up!" the creep said. "Should I chant a healing spell on him?"

I stayed silent as my acquaintances squabbled with each other. Now that I was watching them, were they always this… cheerful? Their smiles and laughter looked and sounded the same to me, but it felt a bit more… genuine.

This was making me feel very… _angry,_ to be honest. My life was better than theirs, and yet how come I was the one feeling unsatisfied with my life? It's sickening. What was the one thing missing in my life that could finally make me feel content?

"Guys, let's not tease Nagisa so much," I said. "We're all friends here right?"

The pink-haired brat was the only one who heard my voice over the commotion. "Oh, don't be such a spoilsport Monaca." She smiled at me. "We're just having a bit of fun."

"Having a bit of fun is fine, but we shouldn't overdo it if hurts our friends. Don't you think you should be more… _considerate,_ Kotoko?"

For a brief moment I saw a hint of fear in the brat's eyes. At least the ace up my sleeve was still working; if she starts acting out of line again, I juuust might say the G word by accident…

"Y-Yeah, of course Monaca! I'll keep that in mind."

"Great! Now then, isn't it time for you to go off and play that 'Demon Hunting' game?"

"Oh, that's right!" She turned towards the still bickering boys and clapped her hands to get their attention.

"Alright, that's enough!" the pink-haired brat said. "It's time for us to leave and start hunting some Demons! As the leader of the Warriors of Hope, I'll be choosing our target."

"Hey, that's not fair!" the red-haired boy cried out. "You already picked a target last week! Let me choose this time!"

The pink-haired brat wagged a finger at the boy. "No can do Masaru. If you want to choose a target then you have to be the leader. That's what we all agreed on right?"

The blue-haired boy and the creep nodded their heads. "That's correct," the blue-haired boy said. The boy had regained his composure and wasn't red in the face anymore. "If you want to pick a target Masaru, then you shouldn't have lost that rock-paper-scissors game."

The red-haired boy grumbled at that. "She just got lucky, that's all! I'll definitely win back my leader position, and when I do you'll all be following my orders."

"Pfft, good luck with that," the pink-haired brat said. "Now let's go already! We're not going to catch any Demons if we just stand here and talk."

The pink-haired brat approached me and gave me a hug. "Goodbye Monaca! I hope you have a _great_ time with your family!"

I returned the hug. "Thank you Kotoko!" I said. "I hope you have fun hunting down some Demons!"

The brat let go of me. She gave a small wave as she walked out of the classroom. Following after her were the red-haired kid and the creep, and they too also waved goodbye to me.

"See ya Monaca! If those nasty Demons even lay a _finger_ on you, call me and I'll come beat them up!"

"Goodbye Monaca… I hope you'll join us next—"

"Thank you Masaru!" I said. "Have fun!"

"Aww… she didn't even mention my name…"

"Just suck it up."

The two exited the classroom. Now it was just me and the blue-haired boy. I smiled at him, but it only seemed to make him nervous.

"What's wrong Nagisa?" I asked. "Aren't you going to go play with them?"

"Yeah, I will…" the blue-haired boy said. He wasn't looking me in the eye. Instead it seems he preferred to stare at the ground rather than my cute face. Now that's just very rude of him.

"Monaca, I…"

"Yes, Nagisa?" What's with him all of a sudden? Did he need to go to the bathroom or something?

"… Nevermind. Stay safe Monaca."

"I will! See ya Nagisa!" I waved goodbye to the boy. He smiled at me, although it appears he was forcing himself to. He returned the gesture and walked out of the classroom.

Now, wasn't that a complete waste of my time. I got my schoolbag out of my locker and exited the classroom to meet up with my accomplice. He was outside the school gate, leaning against a wall nearby with his hands in his pockets. He approached me once I was close and walked alongside me as we began the journey to our home.

"What's wrong Big Bro?" I asked. He seemed unhappy for some reason.

"That wasn't a funny joke Monaca," he replied. "You shouldn't make light of something that serious."

"Oh, don't be like that. You should have known that I was only joking. Didn't I already promise you that I'd follow your rules? Don't you trust me?"

"I do. It's just… you're not exactly the most honest person in the world…"

"So you don't trust me. I mean what you said is true; in the past I might have told a lie here and there. But haven't I been behaving myself at home and at school?"

"Yes, but—"

"So don't you think you can put a tiiiiny bit of faith in me? Monaca feels pretty sad that Big Bro here can't trust her, even though she's been on her best behaviour for a while now…"

"… I guess I am being a bit paranoid here."

I smiled at him. "Does that mean you'll start trusting me more?"

"Yes, but you still have to follow those rules I set out for you."

I was hoping that he'd at least make the rules a bit lenient, but I guess I'd be asking too much from him. "Okay!" I said. "Monaca will continue to follow your rules, while you learn to stop being so suspicious of her every move."

I stopped in my tracks and offered a hand to my accomplice. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah, we have a deal." We shook hands and continued on our way.

I leaned back in my wheelchair. It's quite a shame that my accomplice was so distrustful of me. I mean, he's my partner in crime right? But I guess it was kinda my fault for playing too many pranks in the past. If I could go back in time, I would have made sure to keep myself in check. He would have never discovered the unsavoury parts of my personality, and I could continue playing my pranks without all of these rules.

But then again, would our relationship still be the same? It could be a lot better, but I wouldn't mind if it stayed like this forever.

…

"Is something wrong Monaca?"

"It's nothing Makoto. I'm just thinking about something."

"Well, alright."

"… On second thought, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

I focused my attention onto him. "What makes you happy in life?"

"What makes me happy?" My accomplice placed a hand under his chin as he thought up of an answer. "I guess that would be hanging out with my friends and my family."

Hmm, was that the solution to my problem? Hanging out with my family was fun and all, but it didn't do anything to alleviate this sense of boredom.

"Is there anything else?"

My accomplice shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing else comes to mind. If everybody's happy then I'm happy. Why are you asking such a question anyway?"

"I'm just looking for some new hobbies. It gets pretty boring at home sometimes, y'know? I can't go outside without an adult accompanying me, and the channels on TV keep on talking about that stupid parade crap. Even playing videogames was starting to be boring. I want to do something fun and exciting!"

"I see."

"You're free today, aren't you? Want to help me search for a new hobby?"

"Uh, about that…" My accomplice had a nervous smile on his face as he avoided my gaze. "I have to go somewhere today…"

"… Oh. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to a friend's place. I have to work on a group project, so after I drop you off at home I'll be heading off."

"Really. The school is making you work on a project during a protest?"

"Yeah… I don't understand it either. Maybe it's their way of reassuring us that everything is fine?"

"More like burying their heads in the sand. How long is it going to take you?"

"It depends. Maybe three hours at best, or eight hours at worse. It's a pretty big project, so… I might be busy for the next few weeks as well…"

How disappointing… I could always ask my sister—or Kurokuma if I was that desperate—for help, but they didn't know me as well as my accomplice.

"I can still help you once I return home though!" my accomplice added. "I'll try and get home as early as I can so we can spend time together."

"It's okay," I said. "Take as much time as you need to finish this project. We wouldn't want you to fail this project now, would we? I'll ask Komaru or Kurokuma for assistance."

"If that's what you want… I'm always here if you need me."

My accomplice looked a bit regretful, so I placed the most charming smile on my face to cheer him up. It was very easy to lift up his spirits; all you needed to do was smile and say happy things!

"I know Big Bro, so just relax and have fun with your friends!" I said. "Having fun is the most important thing in life after all."

He looked more like his usual carefree self now that I reassured him. I unzipped the schoolbag on my lap and took out my diary and some stickers.

"Let's see…" I flipped through my diary until I was at my record of stickers. "You get one sticker for picking me up, so that gives you a total of… one hundred stickers! Congratulations Makoto! For reaching such an amazing milestone, you get to order me around three times. Isn't that amazing?"

"Uh, I guess?" he said.

"So, what do you want me to do for you? Want me to bake you some cookies? Help you with your homework? Clean your room? Name it and I'll do it, if it's within reason of course."

"I don't have anything in mind at the moment."

"That's fine. Tell me what you want once you've come up with something."

For the rest of the trip we continued on in silence. My accomplice busied himself on his phone, tapping away at whatever was on the screen. As for me, I used up all of my brain power thinking about what to do for the rest of the day…

* * *

"Goodbye Monaca. Don't do anything dangerous while I'm gone, and never—"

"Open the door to strangers. I know Makoto, so go out the door and meet up with your friends."

My accomplice was still standing right by the open door. I gestured at him to get out of the house already, and he finally took the last step out the door.

"Make sure to ring me if anything comes up," he said.

"I knooow, so can you go now please?" I said. "Have fun out there!"

My accomplice nodded and started to walk away. He only took three steps away from the house until he looked back behind him, forcing me to give him a smile and a wave before I shut the door.

I turned around to face the living room. Lying on the couch was Kurokuma, smoking (or as he called it, "breathing") away as it watched the TV. On its left leg was an ankle monitor, a reminder that I actually paid two hundred thousand dollars to bail the damn bear out.

Just thinking about how much I lost was making me irritated. That feeling only intensified when examining the room around me. Nothing but boring cabinets, boring floor lamps, boring pictures on boring walls, a bum of a bear lying on a boring couch watching a boring show on a boring TV… How was a girl supposed to entertain herself here!?

I moved to a cabinet near me and opened up a drawer. If I didn't find anything fun to do right now I was going to go insane! I took out the first thing that caught my eye; a large red book with the title "Family Photos." I flipped it open to the first page.

… Huh, I didn't know they had a dog. One of the photos had two kids playing with a dog in a park. The boy with the single hair sticking out was obviously my accomplice, but who was the girl with him? Was that Big Sis? If it was where was that idiotic strand of hair?

I flipped through the book. There was nothing particular interesting in it; it contained all your standard baby photos, birthday photos, family photos… Y'know, all the things I never had for most of my life. I flipped through several pages until I spotted one particular photo.

I took the photo out of the book. It was a photo of me dressed up like a tree, surrounded by my family. Looking at it was making me feel sooo embarrassed. My family all had natural smiles on their faces, while mine looked like I was forcing myself. I placed both of my hands on one side of the photo. I was sure my family wouldn't notice if this photo went missing. All I had to do was rip it into tiny pieces and my mind would be at peace…

… I put the photo back into the book. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't do that. I closed the book and placed it back into the drawer. I searched around the drawer some more, and when I couldn't find anything interesting I pushed it back into the cabinet. Left with no other options, I unfortunately approached Kurokuma.

"How's your day Kurokuma?" I asked.

"Boring as shit," the bear replied, its voice muffled by the cigar in its mouth. It took the cigar out from its mouth and let out a puff of smoke. "It's bullshit how I can't go out of the house."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have started rapping in public."

"And waste an opportunity to promote my mixtape? Hell no."

"Your 'mixtape' placed someone into a one-day coma, and that's not even the worst of the damages you caused. Do you want another reminder of how money I lost because of you?"

"Eh, I'll pass. How about you boss? Did ya screw anybody over today?"

"Nope. I already told you I can't play any more pranks."

"Then do it in secret. Come on Monaca, don't you want to raise some hell? I'll even give you a hand."

"That's a very tempting offer, but no means no. Besides, you wouldn't be much help with that ankle monitor."

Kurokuma muttered some profanities under its breath. I must say the idea of rewriting its personality was getting very, _very_ tempting. I wasn't going to do it now, but if it caused trouble for me one more time well…

I reached inside my school jacket and took out my trusty revolver. Kurokuma raised up its hands to me.

"Whoa boss! Let's talk it out first!" Kurokuma cried out. "I know I can be a pain in the ass, but ya don't have to murder me!"

"Relax, this isn't a real gun."

I pointed the gun at the bear and pulled the trigger. A plastic pellet flew out of the gun, hitting Kurokuma in the face before bouncing off from the bear. Kurokuma lowered down its paws.

"Well, ain't that reassuring. Why are you carrying around a toy gun anyway?"

"It's to protect myself. It's getting pretty dangerous going outside, what with adults getting murdered and all. Anyway, want to play Russian roulette?"

"Sure! It's gonna be hard for me to shoot myself though, 'cause I don't have human hands."

"Don't worry; I'll shoot you when it's your turn. Let's go to the kitchen and set things up—"

The sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the house. We both turned our heads towards the door.

"Looks like your sister's back from school," Kurokuma said. "Why don't we invite her to join us?"

"I don't think it's her," I said. "If it was then she would've unlocked the door instead of pressing the doorbell. I think it's them again."

"What, those assholes from Hope's Peak Orphanage? Aren't they busy covering up their asses with 'The Parade'?"

"Apparently not if they got time to visit me."

I placed the toy gun back inside my school jacket and approached the door. I took out the house key in my skirt pocket, and unlocked the door juuust a tiny bit to take a peek outside. Standing there was a tall woman in a suit, hands clasped behind her back as she gave me a smile.

"Hello Monaca," Miss Jellyfish said. "It's been quite a while hasn't it?"

I returned the smile. "I'm sorry, but have we met before?"

"Now, don't be like that. How about you invite me in so we can chat?"

"My mum said not to talk to strangers."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice here Monaca. Please open the door; else I'll be forced to report this action to the orphanage. We wouldn't want to trouble your parents now, would we?"

Despite how much I wanted to close the door on her face, I moved aside to let her into the house. Miss Jellyfish examined the living room, the smile on her face dropping for a split second once she spotted Kurokuma standing near the couch.

"Wassup yo!?" Kurokuma shouted. "Came to check up on us Miss Director?"

"I take it this was the bear at that competition?" Miss Jellyfish said. "I must admit, I'm impressed at what you created. You might have even won first place, had it not malfunctioned in the end."

"Why, thank you!" I said.

"Hey! I didn't malfunction alright! I was just so excited that I didn't hear her telling me to stop, that's all."

"Hmm, is that so?" Miss Jellyfish walked towards the kitchen. She entered inside, and like before she began examining the room around her.

"Ah, why don't we talk over there," Miss Jellyfish called out. She disappeared away from my line of sight, so I followed after her into the kitchen along with Kurokuma. The woman had made herself comfortable at the kitchen table, and was gesturing for me to join her. I approached her while Kurokuma stood nearby the entrance.

Miss Jellyfish began speaking once I made myself comfortable at the table. "I would like your bear friend to leave the room."

"The fuck? Why the hell do I have to go!?" Kurokuma shouted.

"This is a private matter between Monaca and me."

"Yeah, well I don't take orders from you so piss off."

"Monaca, please tell your invention here to leave us."

"Why should I?" I asked. The woman in front of me let out a sigh.

"Do I really need to explain what would happen if you don't comply?"

"Alright, alright. Kurokuma, go to the living room."

"I would prefer it if you send it somewhere far away from here as possible."

"Jeez, fine. Kurokuma, go to your room."

The bear grumbled out something as it left, probably a swear word. Soon after, the sound of a door being slammed shut rang throughout the house.

"Now then. How are you doing Monaca? Is your new family treating you well?"

"Indeed they are!" I answered. "They're the best family in the world!"

"Are they now… Don't be shy to voice out any problems you have with them."

"Sorry to disappoint, but they really are a perfect family. Why are you even asking such a question anyway? Don't your goons report anything to you at all? In fact, how come you're the one paying me a visit?"

Miss Jellyfish dropped her fake smile. "Hope's Peak Orphanage is understaffed at the moment."

"And why's that?"

"Do you know about the situation at Hope's Peak Academy?"

"Mm-hmm. A human experiment escaped from its lab and murdered a bunch of helpless students. Such a tragedy… But hey, now the school has a couple less mouths to feed."

"I guess that is one silver lining, twisted as it may be. Since Hope's Peak Academy is coming under fire, many of our staff have quit under fear that our more… unsavoury duties, would be discovered by the media. Thus a few others and I are forced to pick up the slack."

"Sounds like you're in a tight spot Miss Director. Why don't you take a nice, looong vacation away from here? I hear Tahiti is lovely this time of year."

"If I had a lot of money maybe I would go on a vacation, but I don't. So unfortunately, you're going to have to get used to these visits."

How wonderful! Instead of doing something fun, I was going to spend my evening hanging out with Miss Jellyfish! Today just keeps getting better and better.

"So… what now?" I asked. "Are we going to sit here and talk until you leave?"

"Indeed," Miss Jellyfish answered. "I still need to confirm whether you've kept quiet about our operations."

"Relax, Miss Director. Monaca's a good little secret keeper. Not a single soul knows what you're doing to those poor, poor orphans."

"And that's the truth?"

"Absolutely!"

"Then can you explain this?"

Miss Jellyfish reached inside her suit and took out several photos. She laid them around the table. All the photos showed a location outside the orphanage, along with a man who was trying his best to not look suspicious.

"Why is it that the headmaster is snooping around the orphanage?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you and your buddies got sloppy in covering your tracks?"

"I can assure you that it's not us. I believe that one of our adopted orphans spilled the beans on our duties."

"And you think it's me? Now that's just unfair for poor Monaca! Why don't you check on the other orphans first before you accuse her."

"I already did. Unlike you, they've all been staying out of trouble. Ever since you've been adopted all kinds of incidents happened. You caused an experimental event in Hope's Peak Academy to fail, was held hostage at a doughnut store and created a robotic bear that ripped off someone's arm. With such a history is there no wonder that you're the prime suspect?"

… Damn it. I knew that telling the headmaster was a bad idea, but my accomplice just had to ignore my warning.

"If what you said is true, which it isn't by the way, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to take me back to the orphanage?"

"Not the first solution I had in mind, but it's not off the table. Depending on how this conversation goes you might only receive a mild punishment."

"Monaca has a better option. How about she receives no punishment at all and you let her go instead?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible. As the director it is my job to ensure Hope's Peak Academy's reputation is spotless, and if something were to come along and threaten that it falls upon me to eliminate the problem."

"So you're going to kill Monaca?"

"I wouldn't go that far just yet. Despite your problematic personality, I really am quite fond of you."

"It's a sin to tell a lie Miss Director."

Miss Jellyfish smiled at me. "It's the truth. If it's possible, I would very much like to avoid hurting you in any way. Tell me, how is your adoptive brother doing at school?"

"He's doing fine. Why are you asking?"

"Just curious, that's all. From what I've read from his files, he doesn't seem to have any extraordinary aptitude in anything. His test marks and athletic abilities are all average compared to his peers. The only reason why he isn't in the Reserve Course is due to a lottery ticket, and even then having a talent in luck isn't viewed in high regard at Hope's Peak."

"… What are you getting at?"

"I'm simply stating facts. While the headmaster says luck is a talent, many others at Hope's Peak would disagree with him. If your brother were to do poorly at school, there's a good chance he would get kicked out regardless of his talent."

"I guess it's a good thing he's doing well at school."

"That's true, for now. Things could always change in the future Monaca. He could, for example, fail to complete an essential project due this month, putting him at risk of expulsion."

How oddly specific, and I doubt it was by accident.

"Such misfortune might even spread to the rest of the family," Miss Jellyfish continued. "Your father might get laid off from his job, your sister might not get admitted to a prestigious school, and your mother might suffer a major accident that'll leave her in a hospital bed."

"Threatening my family, Miss Director?" I said. "That's a pretty low thing to do. But then again there's nothing you and your group wouldn't stoop to if it kept your secrets safe."

"I never said anything of the sort. The future is unpredictable; terrible things can happen to anyone at any time."

"And what should I do to ensure these terrible things won't happen in the future?"

"It's very simple. For starters, we'll be visiting you every day from now instead of two times per week. These visits will take place either in the morning or afternoon, depending on your schedule."

That didn't sound so bad to be honest. I could handle a couple of annoying pests visiting me. Then again I doubt that was the end of her demands.

"Is there anything else?"

She reached inside her suit again and placed down something on the table. It was a flat, rectangular device, small enough that I could hold it with two fingers and black all around except for the middle. The camera lens on the device clued me in on its purpose.

"We'll also place you under twenty-four-hour surveillance. You are required to wear this device at all times unless we state otherwise."

"What if I need to go to the bathroom?"

"You still need to wear it."

"Even when I go to sleep?"

"Even when you're sleeping the device stays on."

"This is an invasion of privacy y'know?"

"Perhaps it is, but you'll get used to it. It's not like you have to accept these suggestions. All you need to do is say no and we'll continue on with our old schedule. Although, I don't know what'll happen to your family in the near future."

Some choice this was. It was painfully obvious that the woman was trying to force me to accept these terms by threatening my family. Not that I was planning to anyway. I liked my family and all, but I valued my own privacy more than them. If they were going to suffer in the near future then too bad, so sad…

"… How about I make a deal with you?"

… God damn it.

"I'm afraid I'm not—"

"Just hear me out first," I interrupted. "What I'm going to propose will be beneficial to both of us."

"Oh?" Miss Jellyfish raised an eyebrow at this. "I don't believe you have anything useful to offer me, but I'll humour you. What is your deal?"

"I'm going to pay you some money to leave me alone."

"… Is that it?"

"Yep."

The small, irritating smile plastered on Miss Jellyfish's face finally dropped. "If you actually think that bribing me would do the trick, then I don't know what to say to you."

"I didn't say how much money you'll be getting though. Does half a million sound good to you?"

"… I'm sorry, did you just say you have half a million dollars lying around?"

"I did. I'll even prove it to you. Can I ask for Kurokuma to come back inside?"

Miss Jellyfish didn't answer me. She kept looking at me with an expression that told me nothing on what she was feeling. Just when I thought she had gone brain dead, she nodded her head, giving me permission to shout for the bear.

"Kurokuma!"

Not even a minute passed and the bear was already inside the kitchen.

"Hearing you loud and clear!" Kurokuma replied. "You finished talking?"

"Not yet. I want you to do something for me. Bring me half a million dollars."

"As you command!"

Kurokuma exited the kitchen. For the next few minutes, I stayed silent and watched the woman in front of me with a smile. Miss Jellyfish had her arms crossed, face expressionless as she stared at me as well.

There was a lot of noise outside the kitchen, along with the frantic footsteps of Kurokuma running around the house. The footsteps eventually grew closer, and soon enough Kurokuma appeared inside carrying a briefcase.

"Here it is Monaca!" Kurokuma exclaimed, and plopped the briefcase in front of me. "Half a million dollars at your disposal."

"Thank you so much Kurokuma! Now leave."

"Wait, what."

"You heard me. Go away."

"Are ya fuckin' kidding me…?" The bear dragged itself outside of the kitchen. The sound of a door being slammed shut once again rang throughout the house.

I opened up the briefcase, counting the bills inside to double-check the amount before turning it around to show Miss Jellyfish. The woman reached for the briefcase, but I moved it away from her.

"Not so fast," I said. "Do we have a deal or not?"

"… I'll admit that your offer is tempting," Miss Jellyfish said, "but I don't see how this deal will benefit me in the long run. I could make this much money in around two years."

"Maybe you could if you stick around with your job, but is that really a good decision?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Miss Director, don't you see the signs? No matter how hard the media tries to downplay it, Hope's Peak Academy is finished. Sooner or later everyone will find out what you've done, and when that happens, do you really expect the Steering Committee to come and help you out?"

"…"

"That's why I propose you take the money I'm offering you, and go on a journey far, far away from here. Of course, you have to do something for me as well."

"And that is?"

"I want you to put a stop to these visits, permanently. I don't want to see you and your goons near my family ever again."

"You know, I could just take the money and not agree to your deal."

"You could, but if you do… well, your life's going to turn upside down."

"Is that a threat?"

I shrugged. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. All Monaca is trying to say is that you really, _really_, don't want to get on her bad side. Let me ask again; do we have a deal?"

I leaned forward on the table and extended a hand towards Miss Jellyfish. The woman's blank expression gave no hint at all if she was going to accept my deal. If she didn't accept it, then I guess I was going to have to kill her.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), she reached forward and shook my hand.

"I agree to your deal," Miss Jellyfish said. She was smiling now. "Hope's Peak Orphanage will no longer bother you and your family ever again."

"That's great Miss Jelly— Miss Director! You won't regret this decision."

"I hope not." She motioned towards the briefcase near me. "Now, about my payment…"

"Let's not get too hasty here. You're only getting half of your money today. The rest will be delivered once I see proof that you held up your end of the bargain."

"And how will I know that you'll keep yours?"

"You won't. We're going to have to trust each other, and that shouldn't be too hard right?"

There was a look of displeasure on Miss Jellyfish's face. "Hey, why the long face? I'll have you know that Monaca is one hundred percent trustworthy!"

"That is quite possibly the biggest lie I have heard from your mouth today."

"What a mean thing to say. I really won't stab you in the back, promise!"

"We'll see. Just know that there will be severe consequences if you renege on this deal."

"Mm-hmm. The same goes for you as well."

Miss Jellyfish got up from her seat. She motioned at the briefcase again, and while I hated having to part with my hard-earned money, I began handing over the agreed payment. Every stack of money I gave to her was deposited somewhere inside her suit, disappearing into pockets that seemingly had no limit to their capacity.

Once the last stack of money had disappeared forever from my life, Miss Jellyfish began to walk out of the kitchen. She looked satisfied now that she had robbed me of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

"Aren't you going to take your camera back?" I called out.

"You can keep it," she replied back. "Think of it as a gift from me."

She exited the room. I grabbed the device on the table, examining it for a bit before shoving it into my skirt pocket. I followed after the woman to the living room.

Miss Jellyfish was waiting nearby the front door. "I'll pay you a visit once I dealt with things on my end," she said once I got close. "When I have the rest of my money, you and I will never see each other ever again."

"Are you getting sentimental, Miss Director?" I asked. "How unexpected, I always thought you were a heartless adult."

"Oh, don't misunderstand. I'm as happy as you are with this outcome. I'm simply feeling some… regret, on how you were treated at the orphanage."

"It's a bit late for that, don't you think? It's thanks to you that I'm stuck in a wheelchair."

"I'm not the one you should blame for that. The ones at fault were the people who got too excited about performing their duties."

"Yeah, but who was the one who turned a blind eye to all the abuse?"

"There was nothing I could do about it. The abuse had been going on long before I became the director. If I were to speak out against it I would lose my job or even my life. What would you have done if you were in my position?"

"Easy, I would turn a blind eye as well."

The woman chuckled at that. "See, I knew you would understand. You always were the smartest kid at the orphanage."

"I was, so how come I got beaten up the most?"

"Who knows? Perhaps it was your appearance, your voice, or your personality that made you a target. Whatever their reasons, I'll admit that perhaps I share the blame for your tragic loss. I am truly sorry that my negligence robbed you of your legs."

"That's the worst apology I've heard in my life, but I forgive you." I reached for the doorknob and opened the front door. "Now please, get out."

"As you wish. Have a nice evening Monaca."

Miss Jellyfish walked out of the house. I watched her move further and further away from the house until she disappeared into the streets, so I closed the door and locked it with my key.

"Is she gone?"

I turned around. Kurokuma was leaning against a wall, arms crossed with a cigar in its right hand.

"Yep," I answered, "she's gone for now."

"Thank god for that. I was getting bored as hell lying around in my room! So, what happened in the kitchen?"

"I made a deal with her. I promised to give her half a million dollars if she stopped these annoying visits from the orphanage."

"So you paid her to fuck off. I gotta say, giving away half a million dollars seems a bit much dontcha think? But then again, you're not going to fulfil your promise right?"

"I am actually."

"… Wait, seriously?! Aren't you worried about her backstabbing ya? I reckon we should betray her first before she betrays us."

"There's no need to worry Kurokuma. The woman's an opportunist, and she should know by now that Hope's Peak Academy is a sinking ship. It is in her best interest to follow through on this deal. And if she does betray me then I'll simply eliminate her in the future."

Which was easier said than done. Murdering an official from Hope's Peak Academy and getting away with it was going to be pretty difficult, especially with the tools available to me.

"Now that sounds like the Monaca I know and love! Now I'm hoping for that bitch to betray us! I gotta be honest here; I didn't expect you to have such a caring side to ya."

"… Really now?"

"Uh… Did I say something wrong? You seem kinda angry at me."

"What do you mean Kurokuma? Can't you see that I'm smiling at you?"

"… Alright, I'm gonna head off now. I'll be inside my room."

Kurokuma walked away, although I could tell it was one step away from bolting into the hallway. What the bear said made me realised something, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to smash something in this house to bits.

Me, having a caring side? What a joke. It's obvious that this deal was all to my benefit. Getting rid of these annoying visits would put Monaca's mind to rest, and having a healthy mind was very important in life!

… But maybe giving away half a million was a bad idea. Crap, the more I thought about it, the more I regret giving away all that money! Now my dream of building a multibillion-dollar company was getting further away.

I took out my toy gun and stared at it. If only this had real bullets; I'd be able to blow my brains out for making such a dumb decision… That was a joke of course.

I placed the gun back into my jacket and went after Kurokuma. I moved maybe three feet away from the door until someone rang the doorbell, causing me to turn around. I sighed as I once again unlocked the door and opened it, half expecting to see Miss Jellyfish standing in front of me.

What I got instead was my sister, leaning against a wall looking ready to pass out at any moment. She shambled towards me, and I backed away from her in response.

"Welcome home Big Sis!" I greeted. "How was your day?"

"R-Rest…" my sister replied. She moved past me without even giving a glance. I followed along after her.

"Uh, Big Sis? Are you feeling okay?"

"I… need… to… rest…"

She collapsed on the couch. From the corner of my eye, I could see Kurokuma poking its head out from the hallway.

"What the hell happened to her?" Kurokuma said. It approached my sister and peered down at her. "She looks like a zombie."

"W-Water…" my sister muttered out.

"What was that? Waffles?"

"Water. She wants water," I said. "Go get her some."

Kurokuma went inside the kitchen and came back with a glass of water. My sister yanked the glass as soon as it was within reach, spilling some of its contents onto the floor. She drank the whole thing in seconds, and placed the empty glass in her hand on the small table next to her.

"Phew… I feel much better."

"What happened at school Big Sis?"

"I, uh, ran five laps around the school."

"And why did you think that was a good idea?"

"Hey, it wasn't like I had a choice! The P.E teacher forced me to when I kept talking in class."

"How terrible! My Big Sis doesn't deserve to be treated in such a way."

But if I was being honest, I didn't sympathise that much for my sister. It was rather amusing to imagine my sister running laps around the school.

"Thanks, Monaca. But to be fair I really should have kept my mouth shut."

"You're being way too forgiving here. Monaca thinks we should complain to the school about this abuse."

"Isn't that a bit much? My P.E teacher may be strict and picks on me a lot, but he's not a bad person. I don't think we should get him into trouble just because of this."

She really was my accomplice's sister, kind to a fault that they border on being a doormat. How disappointing. I was getting excited at the thought of ruining someone's day…

… Wait a minute. I think I found it; the perfect activity that not only satiates my boredom, but also avoids breaking any of my accomplice's stupid rules!

"Okay! If that's what you want then I won't complain any further," I said. "I'll leave you to rest for a while. Let's go Kurokuma."

"Huh? Where to?" Kurokuma asked.

"To your room. There's something I want to discuss with you."

We went off towards my accomplice's room. Once we were inside I locked the door and got up from my wheelchair.

"So, what do you want to discuss Monaca? You want to hear me rap for ya?"

"No. You're going to help me set up a prank."

"What? Am I hearing this correctly? Didn't I hear you say that you don't do pranks anymore because of some wack-ass rules?"

"That's true, but after that little chat with Komaru I came to a realisation. Rule number three states that I can't do anything harmful to people from my school or Makoto's school, but it never said anything about someone from _Komaru's_ school."

"Oh man, talk about a loophole! So who's the unlucky son of a bitch you got your eyes on?"

"We're going to prank that P.E teacher."

"Huh? That guy?" Kurokuma scratched its head. "I don't want to ruin the moment here, but didn't Komaru said to leave him alone?"

"She did, but you know what the people in this family are like. They're too kind for their own good, and that leaves them vulnerable to be taken advantage of."

I approached my accomplice's computer and turned it on. "That's why it's up to me to protect them! Who knows what awful punishments that P.E teacher has planned in the future? I'm going to give him a little warning to leave Komaru alone."

"So this whole thing is all about protecting your family eh?"

"Of course it is. Aren't I such a kind and selfless individual? Now come over here and sit down on this chair."

I pointed to the object in question. Kurokuma approached it and did what I asked. I examined the ankle monitor attached on the bear.

"Hmm, this should be easy enough to take off…" I said. "Once this computer loads up and I work up my magic you'll be able to walk outside again."

"Seriously!? That fuckin' rocks!" Kurokuma shouted. "I can finally buy all the shit I need for my music career! You're the best Monaca!"

"Keep your voice down. I'm only removing this for a short while; once you've done what I ask of you you're putting this thing on again."

"Wow, talk about a mood killer." Kurokuma exhaled from his cigar and puffed out a ball of smoke. "What do I have to do?"

"You're going to spy on that P.E teacher. I want you to find out any dirty secrets that I can exploit him with, so you miiiight need to break into his house as well."

I took out the gift from Miss Jellyfish out of my pockets. "You'll also be planting these things as well. There's only one at the moment, but once I figured out the design and the parts needed it should be a piece of cake to create copies."

"Whoa there Monaca. I love that you have so much faith in my abilities, but look at me. People are going to notice me standing around on the street if I look this fabulous."

"Have you never heard of disguises? I'm going to give you a trench coat and a fedora to cover yourself up."

"Will that even work?"

"If it works on turtles it'll works on bears."

"And what about breaking into his house?"

"I'll help you out if possible, but for the most part you'll be on your own."

"… Shit. Well, it was fun while it lasted Monaca."

"Oh, don't be like that. Think of this as an adventure. Come on, it's going to be fun!"

I smiled at Kurokuma. The bear shrugged at this, continuing to smoke in its seat as we waited for the computer to load itself up.

It's been a while since I felt this excited. I finally found something that would alleviate my boredom for the coming weeks, or even months depending on how this goes. Hiding this from my accomplice should also be easy enough, since he's busy with that group project of his.

"Hey Monaca, the computer finished loading itself."

… He'd probably get very mad at me if he found out about this though. I finally managed to get him to trust me a teensy bit more, so maybe I should keep searching for another fun activity…

… Ah, screw it. I was sure he'd understand if I gave him a justified reason for doing this—which there was—and that's only if I get caught. As long as this whole thing was kept secret I should be in the clear.

"Uh, Monaca? Are you there?"

And even if he didn't understand, I'd just say sorry in a really sad voice and everything would be alright. He didn't turn against me for that rooftop prank, so I was sure he'd forgive me for this.

"Helllooo? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you okay. Stop bugging me or else I'm putting you into silent mode."

I typed in the password for the computer. The desktop loaded itself on my screen.

"Now then, let's begin stage one of my fun prank!"

* * *

"Remember Monaca, never—"

"Open the door to strangers. How many times are you going to repeat this?"

"I'm just making sure. Stay safe Monaca."

"I will. See ya Makoto, and have fun out there!"

I waved goodbye and closed the door before my accomplice could say anything else. Perhaps it was a little rude to do that, but I couldn't help it. Today was the day after all.

I headed towards my accomplice's room right away. I knocked on the closed door and waited for Kurokuma to answer.

… I knocked on the door again. I knocked on it several more times. When the damn bear still didn't open the door I took out a key from my skirt and entered it into the doorknob. I opened up to Kurokuma; headset attached on its head watching a video on my laptop.

I took out my revolver and shot at it. The pellet knocked away the headset, which in turn grabbed the bear's attention.

"Fuck just hit me?" Kurokuma touched the spot where the pellet hit and turned its head at me. The sight of me at the door startled the bear.

"Oh, welcome home Monaca! I uh, didn't hear ya coming."

"That's rather obvious considering how many times I knocked on the door. What are you watching?"

"Top ten famous rappers around the world. The list's pretty shit though; they put this Eminem guy at number one instead of me."

"They must have great taste then. Now, is everything set up? Or did you just waste time sitting here watching videos?"

"What do you take me for, a slacker? Everything that you need for this prank has been set up perfectly."

"I'll be the judge of that. Get out of the seat please."

Kurokuma moved out of the seat. I picked up the headset from the ground and placed it on as I made myself comfortable at the desk. I inserted the headphone jack into the laptop and began checking if all the necessary programs were working.

"Looks like everything is working perfectly," I said. "Good job on not screwing up this simple task Kurokuma."

"Thanks Monaca! Do I get a reward?" Kurokuma asked.

"No. Now be quiet."

I began rearranging everything on the screen. The least important programs such as the voice modifier were all minimised, leaving only the most essential programs for this prank. My laptop screen was now showing various sections of that P.E teacher's house; all thanks to the various spy cameras planted by Kurokuma.

"Oh man, seeing this is bringing up some awful memories!" The bear next to me leaned in close to the laptop, its head blocking my view of the screen. "I had to do some crazy spy stuff to break into this house. Crawling in vents, lock picking doors, hiding under cardboard boxes, shit was real—"

"Yes yes, very interesting." I pushed the bear's head out of the way. "Are you going to keep your mouth shut, or am I going to have to put you into silent mode?"

"Oops, sorry Monaca. I got beary excited there for a moment. I'll stand by at the door and keep an eye out for your sister."

"Good."

Kurokuma left my side. I could finally feel some peace and quiet now that the bear wasn't talking my ear off.

I stared at my laptop screen. Showing on one part of the screen was the front door of my target's house. The teacher should be opening the door right about…

The door opened, and stepping inside was a middle-aged man wearing a green tracksuit. From the information given to me by Kurokuma he should be around his thirties, and yet he looked quite good for his age. The only thing that gave his age away was that his slicked-back dark hair had a bit of grey in it. I wonder what colour it's going to be once I was done with him.

Another person also appeared on my screen. A short, rather chubby woman came running down the hallway as soon as the door was open, giving my target a nice, big hug. He returned it, and the next few minutes consisted of them whispering sweet nothings to each other. Watching the whole display made me bored to tears, but it was a necessary evil.

The target's wife finally let him go and departed somewhere else. On another part of the screen I saw that she went into the kitchen, her voice grating my ears as she muttered about what to cook for dinner.

I muted that part of the screen. Now then, time to play!

I called a phone number using my laptop, and immediately the sound of the landline phone was ringing in my ears. I lowered the volume as I watched my target move towards the noisy object.

He picked up the phone. The ringing in my ears vanished and was replaced with my target's voice.

"Hello?" my target said.

"Hello!" I replied back. Thanks to the voice modifier my cute voice sounded deeper than it actually was. "Am I speaking to a Mister Taro?"

"No. I think you got the wrong number."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Are you _absolutely_ sure I got the wrong number?"

"Is this some kind of prank?" I could tell from his voice that my target was getting annoyed. "I'm ending this call. Good—"

"Wait just a moment please! I want to ask you one very important question. If you can answer this correctly then I won't bother you anymore."

"… Fine. What is your question?"

"What colour is your wife's hair?"

"Why do you even need to know that?"

"Please answer the question."

"… Why the hell am I even playing along with this crap…" my target muttered. "My wife's hair colour is black. Are you happy now?"

"Hmm, was that correct? I'm pretty sure her hair's blonde."

"… What."

I could hear Kurokuma chuckling to itself at the door. I wanted to let out a chuckle too, but I contained myself.

"I'm correct, aren't I?" I continued. "Two days ago you and your wife went to a love hotel together. I have photos of you two entering and leaving right here with me, and her hair is definitely blonde from what I can see. Unless… the girl I'm talking about isn't your wife at all."

My target was beginning to pace around on my screen. Every so often he would glance at something beyond the camera's line of sight.

"How do you know about that!?" My target was hunched over near the entrance. His voice had lowered in volume now that we were discussing his favourite pastime.

"That's a secret! You should worry more about _what_ I'm going to do with this information rather than how I obtained it. Maybe I might send these photos to the school, or even better, to your wife. How will she react when she finds out her lovely husband did the nasty with a student?"

"W-Wait! Whatever you do, please don't reveal this to anyone! I'm begging you!"

"Well… Since you asked so nicely, I won't!"

My target had stopped his pacing. He leaned himself against a wall and let out a breath.

"Thank y—"

"But in return, you must give me something as well."

"… What do you want?"

"I require a payment of ten thousand dollars, every week until I say otherwise. That should be doable, yes?"

"This was your plan all along huh?" My target rubbed his head. "Never thought I would get blackmailed in my life…"

"You can think of it as blackmail, but I prefer things in a more positive light. How about you think of this as… compensation for your wife?"

I heard a sound from Kurokuma. I glanced at it; the bear was trying to stifle itself from laughing aloud by covering its mouth with both hands.

"So, do you accept these terms?"

"… Yeah, I do…"

"Excellent! I'll send you the details on how to send me your payment later on in the day. See you next week, Mister Cheater!"

I ended the call. It was at this moment that Kurokuma finally erupted into laughter.

"That was fuckin' hilarious Monaca!" Kurokuma cried out. "I almost couldn't contain myself during all of that!"

"I'm surprised you could even hear what he was saying," I said. "Can you stop laughing?"

"But I can't help it! Can't you let me make some noise, just this once?"

"… Alright, I guess just this one time wouldn't hurt. Laugh away!"

Kurokuma continued on laughing. Normally I would tell it to shut up, but since I was in a good mood, I was going to let it laugh its non-existent heart out.

I looked back at the screen. My target was no longer near the entrance of the house. He was instead in the living room, sitting by himself at a table looking absolutely miserable. What a lovely sight. I wanted to call back just to add salt to the wound.

Buuuut I restrained myself. It wouldn't be any fun if I broke him too fast now, would it? Let's give him a few days to recover before giving him another call…

* * *

"Goodbye Monaca, and don't forget to never—"

"Are you a broken record, Big Bro? I'm starting to get annoyed hearing you say this over and over again."

"I'm just worried about you. More of those murders are happening lately, and the police still haven't got a lead on the killer…"

"You worry too much. From what I've read online this killer looooves to murder adults in dark alleyways. Am I an adult in a dark alleyway Makoto?"

"No, but—"

"You see! There's nothing to worry about. In fact, you should look out for yourself rather than me. You're the one who keeps going outside during these dangerous times."

"True… Alright, I'll stop repeating myself."

"Perfect! Have fun out there!"

I waved goodbye to my accomplice and closed the door. The growing number of murders wasn't a concern to me if I was being honest; it made this dull and boring world a lot more fun to be in.

Speaking of fun, I think it's about time I gave that teacher a phone call. I headed off to my accomplice's room and knocked on the closed door.

"What's the password?" a voice called out.

"Open Sesame!"

A click was heard and the door opened. I strolled in, and once I was inside Kurokuma closed the door and locked it again.

"Did you set everything up?" I asked.

"Sure did!" It replied, and leaned itself against the closed door. "Everything's so perfectly organised the dictionary should put my face next to the word!"

I didn't believe it for a second. I moved towards my accomplice's desk and examined the front screen of my laptop.

"Hmm… I suppose you did do a good job this time." I grabbed the headset next to the laptop and placed it on. "But keep your voice down. Komaru is studying in her room at the moment, and I don't want her to come knocking on the door."

"Oops, sorry about that. I'll tone myself down a little."

"Good. Also, give me a reminder around… fifteen minutes that I have to help Komaru out with her assignment."

"You got it boss!"

"…"

I called my plaything on the laptop and waited for him to pick up. My unexpected call startled the man on my screen, and I watched as he fumbled around in his pocket for his phone. He took it out, and for a while, he only stared at it with a look of annoyance. He eventually answered my call and placed the phone near his ear.

"Hello, Mister Cheater! How have you been?"

"Why the hell are you calling me today!? I already transferred the money to your account!"

"And? Is there a problem with me wanting to chat with you? If you really don't want me around I guess we should end our arrangement. Good—"

"W-Wait, I'll talk! Just let me finish something first!"

"Okay, but you got three minutes!"

I watched my plaything rush through the reports on his desk. Should I tell him that there were several hidden cameras inside the house? Eh, probably not. His house wasn't the only place that was bugged; his car, his clothes and even the nearby streets all had several of my cameras hidden in place.

"… Time's up! Let's talk."

My plaything groaned. I could see on my screen that he still had some unfinished reports, but he still placed down the pen in his hand.

"What do you want to discuss…" he mumbled.

"Let's talk about you!" I answered. "Tell me more about yourself."

"What's there to talk about? I'm just a high school teacher."

"A high school teacher who participated in the Olympics. You were pretty decent too, considering you have a couple of gold medals under your name."

"Is this why you're blackmailing me in the first place?"

"Oh please. I didn't target you just because you were an Olympic medallist. My motives are more complex than that, but we're going off-topic. Here's a question for you Mister Cheater; why are you working at a crappy public school? A man of your fame could earn more money at some private school."

"I'm not teaching for the money."

"Oh? What's your reason then?"

"It's nothing complicated. My friends and family always said that I would make a great coach. Add in the fact that I could make a positive difference on today's generation no matter how small, becoming a teacher seemed obvious."

"Wow, that's truly admirable! It's nice to know that there are still good people like you in this world… Soooo, how does cheating on your wife help today's generation?"

"…"

"… Helllooo? Is anybody there?" I could see that my plaything still had the phone to his ear, but he wasn't answering my question.

"… I made a mistake."

"Oh, there you are! I thought I lost connection or something. But anyway, that's a pretty big mistake to do Mister Cheater. I understand though; your wife's not the prettiest thing to look at on this Earth."

"Don't talk about my wife like that!"

My plaything looked agitated on my screen. What a great reaction! Let's take it even further.

"Why are you getting so angry?" I asked. "I'm not the one doing the cheating here. Saying a few mean things about your wife hurts her less than what you're doing. If what I said was wrong then go ahead and refute me."

"I…"

"Well? What are you waiting for? Give me one good reason as to why you're cheating on your wife."

"… I don't have an excuse…" The anger on my plaything's face had disappeared. What was on his expression now was the perfect mixture of sadness and disgust.

"What a surprise. You truly are a failure of a human being. But don't worry; your secret is safe with me."

"Was that meant to reassure me?"

"Not really, but I understand the fallout of revealing this to the public. It's a shame how quick people turn on you once they know you did something wrong. It doesn't matter if you solved world hunger or cured every single disease in the world. If it's revealed that you're a murderer, a paedophile or the person who puts soy sauce on white rice, that's all you're going to be remembered for. What's the point of doing good things if people only remembered your horrible actions?"

"If you understand so much why don't you just leave me and my family alone?"

"Didn't I tell you before? My motives are complex. All you have to do is obey what I say and you juuust might walk away from this unscathed. And besides, this whole situation happened because you couldn't keep it inside your pants. It's your own fault."

"…"

My plaything looked down at the table, his face obscured from the cameras. Despite that, I could tell I was very close to making him snap. Just a few more words and—

"Psst, boss!"

I pressed a button on my laptop to mute myself. "What do you want Kurokuma?" I turned my head to the bear standing at the door.

"Aren't ya forgetting something? Look at the time."

"Huh?" I glanced at the time on my laptop. "What are you— Wait, now I remember. I have to go help Komaru."

"Yep, so are you gonna go or…?"

"… Yes, I suppose I have to." It was rather disappointing to end things here, but family matters come first before fun. I unmuted myself to say goodbye to Mister Cheater.

"I'm afraid it's the end of our chat," I said. "I know that you're just as upset as I am, but don't worry. Our next conversation will be just as fun as this one! Goodbye for now, Mister Cheater!"

I ended the call before my plaything could answer. Not that I was expecting an answer in the first place.

The bear at the door started to applaud. "An excellent display as always Monaca!" it said. "Keep this up and you'll be number one at spreading despair!"

"I thought I already was?" I took off my headset and closed my laptop. "Is there somebody else?"

"Whoops, did I say that? Of course you're number one!" Kurokuma chuckled and placed a cigar in its mouth. "Forget I said anything."

Kurokuma acted rather odd there for a moment, but whatever. "I'll leave the surveillance to you. If he does anything suspicious report it to me immediately."

"Got it! Have fun with Komaru!"

The bear unlocked the door and stepped aside. It's only been two weeks since my prank started, but I was having a ton of fun with my plaything! There's still some fun I could squeeze out of him next week, so until then I have to act like a good girl and stay out of trouble.

* * *

"Stay safe out there Big Bro," I said. "And remember to never walk into a dark alleyway. It would do me no good if you got your head smashed like a watermelon."

"Yes, I know Monaca…" he said. "You don't have to keep telling me that."

"But I have to! You may be a teenager, but you're still so gullible at times. If somebody offered you candy from a van I bet you'd jump right in without a second thought."

"You're making fun of me now aren't you?" My accomplice let out a sigh. "I'll see you soon."

"Goodbye Big Bro!"

As always I waved goodbye and closed the door. Now then… What should I do with my free time? I know; how about I make another call to my playthin—

"And I win again!"

There was a noise coming out from the living room; a noise I recognised as being the most annoying thing in the world, Kurokuma's laughter. I turned my attention towards the commotion. Kurokuma was sitting on the floor while my sister was sitting on the couch. In between them was a table, and from the cards lying on it along with the cards in their hands, they were playing some sort of card game.

"Oh come on! How could I lose seven times in a row!? You must be cheating!"

"Nope, it's all skill!"

My sister groaned and tossed her cards onto the table. I moved away from the front door towards them, my approach attracting their attention when I got closer.

"Hey there Monaca!" Kurokuma greeted. "Are ya here to join us in this game of cards?"

"What kind of card game is this?" I asked. "Why are there shogi pieces and a checkers board on the table?"

"This is a new game me and Kurokuma made up," my sister answered. "It's a combination of blackjack, poker, checkers and shogi!"

"Wow! What an amazing idea Big Sis!"

Amazing wasn't what I would call this nightmarish mess of a game, but my sister brightened up from my false praise.

"I know right!"

"So how do you play this game?"

"It's really simple, but I'm not the best person at explaining things… Why don't you explain it Kurokuma?"

"Sure! Do you have three hours to spare Monaca?"

"… Maybe next time. Also, shouldn't you be doing your assignment at this time Big Sis? Your school gave you a day off because of the murders happening outside, so maaaybe you should use this time wisely."

"Well, uh… about that…"

"… You need my help again."

"I'm so sorry! I promise that this will be the last time!"

I could feel the migraine from last week returning to my head. How wonderful.

"You should learn to be a bit more independent, y'know?" I said. "Monaca won't always be around to help you out whenever you're in a pinch."

"I know…" my sister replied. Her usual bright demeanour had dampened from my words. It was a nice look, buuut I had to get rid of it if I wanted to avoid a scolding from my accomplice.

"Fiiiine. Monaca will help you out Big Sis, so stop with that gloomy look!"

She brightened up immediately. "Thank you so much Monaca! You're a lifesaver!"

These people were too easy to please. I turned to Kurokuma and pointed at the hallway.

"Can you be a good bear and set up my game?"

"Huh? Aren't ya helping out your sister here?" Kurokuma asked.

"It's for when I'm done, so get going please."

Kurokuma got up and left the living room. It's very unlikely I would have any time for my prank once I was finished here, but I like to take my chances.

"Show me what you wrote so far."

My sister grabbed a piece of paper on the table and handed it to me. I skimmed through it, made a mental note of all the mistakes on the paper, and handed it back to her.

"What do you think?"

"… It's pretty mediocre in all honesty. Why couldn't you pick a good book like Socki the Sock?"

"Hey! I can accept that my writing is garbage, but 'The Bomb Inside Her!' is _absolutely_ a top tier manga! You take that back right now!"

"Jeez, alright!" I raised my hands up to the scowling girl. "No need to get so angry at Monaca…"

"S-Sorry. I get really passionate whenever someone says manga is trash."

"No kidding. At least we both understand your writing is terrible."

"You really like to rub that in huh." My sister sighed and leaned back on the couch. "What do I need to improve on?"

"Nearly everything, but the one that comes to mind is when you're talking about themes. From the examples you've given, I can't tell if this is a story about true love or abusive relationships. You need to pick out better scenes and quotes to support what you're saying."

"I get what you're saying, but there are too many great scenes and quotes in the manga. I can't decide which ones to use."

"Then pick the ones that stick to your mind. For example, I love every page of Socki the Sock, but the one that always comes to mind is page ten. On page ten Socki gets a hole in her, and as we learn on page four, this is basically a death sentence for the socks. Socki, however, is too tired to make a fuss and accepts her death. This is a perfect example of the theme of the book; death comes to anyone at any time, so try and make the most out of your life."

"Wow, really? That's a bit dark for a children's book."

"That's what makes Socki the Sock so great! Page six is also another favourite of mine. Many people see that page as random nonsense, but I disagree! Page six is actually about—"

"Boss! Boss! We got an emergency!"

The frantic yelling of Kurokuma caused us to look at the hallway. Soon enough Kurokuma appeared in our sight, its body crashing into a wall with such speed he bounced off it into the ground. By some miracle the wall was unharmed. Kurokuma, however, was not so fortunate.

"Fuck… I think I broke my arm…" Kurokuma gripped its left arm as it got up from the floor.

"What do you want Kurokuma?" I asked. "I'm busy explaining the intricacies of Socki the Sock to Big Sis."

"Code black! We got a code black situation!"

"Code black?" Uh oh, this couldn't be good. If it was a code black situation that would mean something serious had occurred to my prank.

My sister looked confused at all of this. "Uh, what's a code black?" she asked me. "It sounds really serious…"

"It's nothing to worry about Big Sis! It just means Kurokuma stuffed something up with my game. I'm going to go fix it quickly, so stay right here and don't move a muscle!"

"Um, okay…?"

Kurokuma and I hurried to my accomplice's room. Upon entering I could see that the bear had already set up my laptop. I grabbed the headset on the desk and placed it on as I examined the screen. Sections of it were split into various parts; some showed the interior of a car, while others showed the street outside. Driving the vehicle itself was my plaything.

"… Is this really what you called me for?" I asked the bear next to me. "He's just driving."

"That's the problem!" Kurokuma replied. "We're gonna be in some deep shit boss!"

"What are you talking about?"

"He's going to meet that fuckin' detective!"

"Detective? Wait, are you talking about _her?_"

"Who else!? The bastard had been trying to call her since morning! I managed to block every one of his attempts, but as soon as I looked the other way he was on a payphone across the street!"

"Please give me one good reason why you didn't _think_ to tell me this sooner?"

"I, uh, thought I could handle it myself…"

… I took a deep breath, held it, and let it out after five seconds. Now wasn't the time to get angry at the stupid bear. I called my plaything's number on the laptop and waited for him to pick up.

"Where are they meeting?" I focused my attention on Kurokuma.

The bear shrugged. "No idea," it answered. "Couldn't hear a word of what they were saying."

"Isn't that just perfect." I looked back at the screen. I could hear my plaything's phone ringing, but the man seemed to be ignoring it. A few seconds later the noise stopped, so I called again.

… He still didn't answer the phone. The vehicle came to a halt, and on the bottom corner of my screen I saw his destination—Hope's Peak Academy. All the way in the distance, I could see a crowd of people nearby the gates of the school.

But what really caught my attention was the fact that the Ultimate Detective herself was standing across the street. She looked as boring as ever since the last time I saw her.

My plaything unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door next to him. The phone had stopped ringing, so for the third time in the row, I called him again.

My plaything was almost out of his car when his phone started ringing. I heard him let out a sigh as he got back inside and closed the door. He reached into his pockets, took out his phone, and answered my call.

My plaything placed the phone near his left ear. "Hello?"

"Hello!" I replied back. "Guess who!"

My plaything flinched on the screen. "God damn it…"

"How rude! Is this how you treat a friend?"

"We are not friends. What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious? I want to continue our fun chat from last week! Are you busy?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Oh? What are you doing?"

"I'm writing down reports."

"… Really." If I wasn't spying on him at this very moment, I might have believed him. Too bad this wasn't his lucky day. "Why do you need to be in your car to do that?"

"Wha—"

My plaything swerved his head in every direction. Nobody was out on the streets from what I could see. "How did you—"

"Find out? I have my ways. But more importantly, it's not nice to lie to a friend, _y'know?_"

My plaything's expression was changing by the minute. A grown man, looking sooo frightened from hearing a couple of words… how uncool.

"Trying to hire the Ultimate Detective to flush me out? How sneaky of you," I said. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to punish you for this transgression."

"P-Punishment?" my plaything said.

"I'm going to have to reveal those photos."

"No wait! For the love of God don't reveal those photos!"

"You're really in no position to demand anything from me. Buuuut since I'm such a kind individual, I'm willing to overlook this for a small fee of… one million dollars."

"One— One million!? Are you insane!? I wouldn't be able to pay the bills if I gave you that much!"

"That's not my problem. You should be thankful that I'm not asking you to give me all the money in your account."

"I'm not giving you a million dollars!"

"Are you _really_ sure that's your answer? If you don't pay up those photos are going to be leaked everywhere. Everyone in Japan will know how much of a terrible human being you are, and let's not forget how that'll affect your family. You _do_ care about them right?"

"…"

"Don't you have an eight-year-old daughter? If these photos get leaked your wife is one hundred percent going to file a divorce, and I'm pretty sure she's going to take the kid as well. Are you going to let your daughter grow up without a father figure in her life?"

"…"

"This is what you deserve after all. Had I not intervened you would have continued to cheat on your wife without a second thought. Do you really believe that you deserve no form of punishment whatsoever?"

My plaything continued to remain silent. I glanced at the bottom corner and saw the boring detective girl walking towards the car.

"It seems your friend is approaching," I said. "What's your answer?"

"… I'll pay you the money…" my plaything muttered. From how lifeless he sounded it seems I had finally broken him. Oh well. I was beginning to grow bored playing with him anyway.

"That's what I wanted to hear. As for Miss Detective here, well, you know what to do right?"

"…"

"I'll take that as a yes. One more thing; let's make this our last call okay? I realllly enjoyed our weekly chats, but it's becoming difficult to make time for them. Do you have anything you want to say to me before I go?"

"…"

"Thank you sooo much for the kind words! Goodbye Mister Cheater, and take good care of yourself!"

I ended the call just when the boring detective had reached the car. She stood near the driver's door, eyeing the window until my old toy rolled it down.

"Were you the one who called?" the boring detective asked in that boring voice of hers.

"Uh, shouldn't ya do something Monaca?" Kurokuma asked. "It's going to be a pain in the ass if that ice-cold detective gets hired."

"Oh, she won't," I replied. "Look."

I motioned at the screen. My old toy avoided eye contact with the detective as he gave his answer.

"… Sorry, but I think you got the wrong guy…"

"… Is that so."

My old toy rolled up the window. Moments later the man was driving away from the boring detective. The detective showed no hint of being annoyed by this, and soon walked back towards Hope's Peak Academy. That was a shame, but it was all made up for by the pathetic face my old toy was making.

"You see. Problem solved." I looked away from the screen to Kurokuma.

"Sure seems like it," it replied. The bear took a moment to smoke a cigar before asking, "You're not really gonna let the guy get off scot-free right?"

"What do you think? I'm going to give him maybe… four days of peace before I leak those photos everywhere."

"Uh… Isn't four days too long? Why not release them after he gives up the dough?"

"I want to give him hope. I want him to have a sliver of hope that everything is all over; that maybe there's a chance to salvage his own mess. If I crush him like that it'll be much more satisfying, don't you think?"

"Wow, that's super fucked up Monaca! And here I thought you'd gotten all soft on me. I bet you could drive the whole world to despair if you put your mind to it!"

"Awww, I'm flattered!" I smiled at the bear and returned my attention back to the screen.

"… Why don't we give that idea a go?"

"Huh?" The bear's comment made me look at it again. "Are you being serious?"

"I am. Think about it Monaca; with your brains and my rap skills, we can cause the biggest tragedy to the world since the death of disco!"

"I don't think your rap skills will be of any help. Your idea does sound fun… Though I doubt we will go far with our limited resources."

"Oh, that won't be a problem." Kurokuma wrapped an arm around me. "Your good pal Kurokuma here has some valuable connections. Give them a call and they'll provide whatever we need, no strings attached."

"Really? You have connections that would supply me with anything? I find that hard to believe."

"It's the truth. I'll do whatever it takes to make this plan a success Monaca, so ya ain't got anything to worry about. You want an advisor? I'm your bear! You want a rapper? Sure, I'll sing for ya! You want me to make you a motherfuckin' milkshake? I ain't got any hands but shit, I'll do it for you Monaca!"

… How strange. Kurokuma actually seemed reliable for once, which was a cause for concern. What was even more worrying was the fact that it thought of a fun idea. Plunging the world into despair would make for a nice long-term hobby…

"So, what do you say?" Kurokuma asked. "Want to end the world with your pal Kurokuma?"

"… Nope, I'm good!" I answered.

"Great! I knew you'd say— Wait, what?"

"I'm not interested." I removed myself from Kurokuma's arm. "Since we're done here, I'll be heading back to Komaru. Grab everything here and hide it in the usual spots."

I moved towards the door. I reached for the doorknob once it was within my grasp, but Kurokuma moved in front of it.

"Hoold up!" Kurokuma said. "How about we, uh, talk more about it before you make a decision?"

"Didn't you hear me?" I asked. "No means no, so move out of the way please."

"Come on, can't you at least reconsider!?" Kurokuma dropped down to its knees, clasped both of its paws, and raised them up to me. "I'm literally begging ya!"

The sight of a grovelling Kurokuma made me curious. Why was this bear being so persistent? Was there a bug in its program? I might need to crack open its head in my spare time.

"Why do you want me to end the world so badly?" I asked.

"I just think it would be a nice fun activity for ya! Isn't it better than extorting old farts for money? Don't ya want something a little more challenging to do?"

"I guess. Destroying the world is a pretty big leap though."

"Maybe it is, but you never liked the world anyway."

Kurokuma placed a cigar in its mouth. After a moment a puff of smoke came out from the bear.

"For one thing, you got abandoned by your own family. For another, you got abused so hard you had to fake a disability to escape it. And lastly, you didn't get that limited edition Socki the Sock book. Most of your life had been pretty fuckin' shit, wouldn't ya say?"

"…"

"All I want you to do is give it a go Monaca. Don't you want to get back at this unfair world? Don't you want to fulfil your life's goal of making the world fall into despair?"

"… I think you're misunderstanding something."

"Huh?" Kurokuma tilted its head. "And what would that be?"

"What's the most important thing in life Kurokuma?"

"The most important thing in life? Ha, that's piss easy! Life's all about getting rich and banging hot chicks!"

"Nope! You're incorrect as always Kurokuma. The correct answer is to have fun."

"Have fun? I guess that makes sense, but why are you asking me about the meaning of life in the first place? Ya trying to be the next Socrates or some shit?"

"I'm asking because you're misunderstanding my intentions. My time at Hope's Peak Orphanage taught me many lessons, but the most important of them all was this; life's too short, so why waste it worrying about stuff that won't matter once you're dead?"

"Uh… Okay? So are you in or…?"

"No, I'm not. Do you want to know why? It's because ending the world sounds like a chore. Having to plan the collapse of entire societies, while also having to hide this from my family, is just soooo much work. Let's stick to what we're doing now okay?"

"But it won't be! Sure, we might have to do some boring shit every once in a while, but it'll allll be worth it in the end! How about we start with an easy country, like Antarctica?"

"Do I really have to repeat myself? Monaca is not interested in ending the world, so drop it!"

"…"

Rather than grace me with an answer, Kurokuma decided that staring was the better option. I had no idea what was going on in its mind, but if I had to guess, Kurokuma was probably thinking of what to say. This staring game continued for about a minute, only ending when Kurokuma let out a sigh.

"Alright, I give up!" Kurokuma cried out. "If ya really don't want it then I ain't gonna force it."

"I'm glad you understand!" I said. "Now move."

Kurokuma stepped away from my path, finally letting me leave the room. I opened the door and closed it once I was outside. Even though I had rejected Kurokuma's plan, I kept thinking about it as I returned back to the living room.

Plunging the world into despair… Once upon a time an idea like that would have been appealing, but nowadays I think the world should continue on existing juuuust a little longer. There were still some tasks I needed to do while I was still alive, and I also want to have more fun with my new hobby.

And that's what life should be all about, having fun. Life's pretty meaningless when you think about it; everything we do in life wasn't going to matter after a few thousand years, so why bother doing anything at all?

But I think that's what makes life so great! Since nothing we do in life matters in the long run, we should all just focus on making ourselves happy.

Does playing games all day make you happy? Go ahead and play until the sun goes down!

Does dancing all day make you happy? Go ahead and dance until your legs break!

Does hurting people make you happy? Go ahead and hurt as many people as possible!

Life should be all about the pursuit of your own happiness, regardless of the consequences. Causing someone to break down and fall to despair was fun, but it wasn't what I would consider my life's goal. If spreading hope was as much fun as spreading despair I'd be doing that instead. But it wasn't, so I was going to continue on tormenting random strangers until it gets boring.

I reached the entrance to the living room. "I'm back Big Sis!" I called out as I entered inside.

My sister was still sitting on the couch, twirling a pen in one hand as she stared at her assignment paper on the table. My announcement made her look away from the paper to me.

"Welcome back!" she replied. "Did you fix your game?"

"Yep, everything is fine now." I stopped next to her and peered down at her assignment paper. "Kurokuma just made a silly mistake."

"That's a relief. What kind of game is it anyway?"

"What kind? I guess it's a… life simulation game."

My sister tilted her head a bit to the left. "Life simulation game?"

"It's those games where you control the lives of virtual characters."

"Huh, sounds interesting."

"You should give those types of games a try Big Sis. It's really fun messing around with the lives of others. Anyway, let's stop talking about games and focus on this piece of paper right here."

I picked up the assignment paper and held it up to my sister. "You haven't written a single thing on this paper while I was gone. Care to explain why?"

"Uh… I was thinking of what to write," my sister answered.

"For fifteen minutes?"

"… Yeah."

"You need to think faster. At this rate, it's going to take us the entire day to finish. When is this due?"

"… Tomorrow."

"…"

My sister closed her eyes. "How screwed am I?"

"Very." I answered.

My sister groaned at that. "Don't worry Big Sis. With Monaca's help, you might be able to finish it in eight hours."

"B-But it's six p.m."

"I know, so we're going to be pulling an all-nighter."

My sister let out another groan and collapsed on the couch. It seems today was going to be another miserable experience like last week… Oh well. At least I had some fun with my old toy before this.

Speaking of toys, I was going to have to find another one to play with. I should ask my sister tomorrow if anybody was bothering her at school. Of course, it would look very suspicious if I kept targeting people at my sister's school, so maybe I should target some random stranger on the street. Anybody was fair game so long as they committed a crime, and that should be enough justification if, and only if, my accomplice caught what I was doing.

It took a long, loooong time, but my life was finally perfect. There was still the slight chance it could all go wrong if, for example, Kurokuma were to spill the beans on my hobby, but what were the chances of that happening? The bear was stupid for sure, but it couldn't be _that _stupid right?

* * *

He could only sigh as he looked over his report. At this point, he was starting to believe that no letters existed beyond C.

"A pass is a pass…" he muttered. He got up from his seat and made his way to the back of the classroom. He crouched down in front of his locker, unlocked it, and grabbed his bag out before locking it once again.

He stood up and gave a look around the classroom. Only a few of his classmates still remained inside. On the left side, there was Celeste, drinking her royal milk tea as she watched the protests happening outside. On the right side, there was Yasuhiro, examining a crystal ball he bought online for half a million.

And sitting right in the middle there was Kyoko. Spread all around her desk were files, although he couldn't see what was on them from where he was standing.

He decided to approach her. There was still some time before he had to pick up his little sister, so there shouldn't be any harm in having a quick chat. He moved through the gaps between the classroom desks and stopped himself next to Kyoko.

"Hey Kyoko," he greeted.

"Hmm?" She gave him a quick glance before looking back at her files. "Is there something you need Makoto?"

"Not really. I just wanted to talk."

He peeked at one of the open files on her desk. He wished he hadn't though, for he was greeted with several photos of mutilated bodies. He immediately looked away.

"A-Are you working on a case?" he asked.

"No," she answered. "Not officially at least. Are you aware of the murders happening outside?"

He nodded. "The local police have requested my aid for this," she continued, "although my involvement is being kept a secret."

"Huh? Why?"

"People are starting to grow discontent with Ultimates."

"Really? I haven't noticed anything like that."

"I don't blame you. Apart from the protests happening outside, it seems as if the public had already lost interest in the Student Council murders. Look around online, however, and you'll find that people are only growing more resentful each day. It's only a matter of time before things get ugly."

"That is worrying… Still, maybe this whole situation will die down before it gets too bad."

Kyoko smiled a little. "I see you are still as foolishly naive as ever, but perhaps there is a slim chance for things to quiet down."

He sure hoped so. This whole conversation wasn't exactly making him feel excited about the future…

"…By the way Makoto. Do you know about that incident with the teacher?" Kyoko asked.

"Incident? You mean the one three days ago?"

"Yes, that one."

"Well, yeah. It's hard not to when it happened at my sister's school. From what I heard he was cheating on his wife with a student at the school, and on the day he was fired he climbed onto the school roof and…"

"Jumped off from it," Kyoko finished for him. "Although he survived the fall, he is currently still unconscious for the time being."

"At least he's alive. My sister didn't see him jump, but she was horrified when she heard about it. I couldn't imagine how she would react if he had died… Why are you asking about this anyway?"

"I actually encountered the man several days prior to his attempted suicide. He wanted to hire me to investigate a problem of his."

"And what problem was that?"

"He wouldn't tell me. He said it was too risky to talk over the phone, so we agreed to meet up near Hope's Peak Academy. However…"

"However?"

"Once we met up he acted as if he didn't call me at all, and drove away immediately."

"Wow, that's pretty odd."

"Odd indeed. He was also talking on the phone when I met up with him. I was too far away to hear anything, but from the man's expression I doubt it was a pleasant conversation."

She placed a hand under her chin. "This whole situation with the teacher has got me curious. What was the problem he wanted me to solve? Who leaked those photos out to the public, and how did they get them in the first place? Was someone blackmailing him using those photos? If so, then for what reason?"

Kyoko continued on with her questions. Blackmail huh. Hearing that word was bringing up some unpleasant memories…

"… Are you okay Makoto?" She was looking at him now.

"Oh uh, yeah. I'm fine," he answered. She continued to look at him for several seconds, but she eventually returned to examining the files on her desk. "So you think he was being blackmailed?"

"It's a possibility, but I won't know for sure until I ask him myself." She sighed. "I would have preferred to search for clues rather than wait for his recovery, but right now I am rather preoccupied with my current case."

Despite looking as calm as ever, he had a feeling that she was bothered by this. "Maybe I can gather clues for you instead?" he suggested. "If you want, I can ask Komaru if she noticed anything suspicious going on at her school."

"That would be helpful. Perhaps you should head home right away and ask her."

"I'm not really in a rush to go home though."

"Are you sure? Isn't there somewhere you should be right now?"

… Oh crap. He completely forgot that he had to pick up Monaca.

"… I think I should go now. See you tomorrow Kyoko!"

He hurried towards the classroom entrance and threw open the door. He had a leg out the door until—

"One more thing Makoto!"

He stopped in his tracks and turned to face Kyoko again.

"Be careful out there."

"I will!" he smiled and waved goodbye to her before he ran out of the room. He couldn't leave through the front entrance of Hope's Peak Academy due to the protests, so he had to travel through the trees at the back of the school. Once he got through that he ran as fast as he could to Hope's Peak Elementary School, all the while brushing off the leaves and sticks clinging onto his hair and clothes.

It took him thirty minutes to reach his destination. Right outside the school gate all alone was Monaca, head resting on her left palm as she stared at the empty road in front of her. Her expression made it clear that she was bored out of her mind.

That expression disappeared once she noticed he was approaching. "You sure took your sweet time getting here Makoto," she said. She might be smiling, but the tone in her voice made it clear that she was displeased.

"Sorry. I lost track of time talking to a friend…" he said.

"That's a pretty poor excuse, but whatever." She shrugged her shoulders and started to move down the street. He followed along after her. "Monaca forgives you. Just don't do it too often, okay?"

"I won't." He moved in closer to her left and slowed himself down to match with her pace. "How was school today?"

"Same as all the other days. I sat around listening to boring stuff while my to— acquaintances, nag me to play their 'Demon Hunting' game. Honestly, I'm surprised at how stubborn they are. At this rate, I'm going to run out of excuses."

"Maybe you should just give in and join them? I don't see a problem with spending time with your friends."

"But I don't wanna spend time with them. All Monaca wants to do in the afternoon is stay at home and relax. Plus, going outside while there's a serial killer roaming about is a very bad idea, don't you think?"

"Yeah, that's true." He looked around his surroundings. Not a single person was walking about in the streets. Combined with how quiet everything was it felt as if he and Monaca were the only people left in the world.

He walked a little faster. He knew he was being paranoid, but it's better to be safe than sorry right?

"What about you Big Bro? How was your day?" Monaca asked. She didn't seem to notice that he was walking faster, but she was still keeping up with him.

"It was fine," he answered. "I got my result for the group project."

"Oh? Did you get a good score?"

"Yeah, I did."

"I see. I never knew a C was considered a good score."

"Why do you think I got a C? I could have gotten higher than that."

"Then tell me. What score did you get?"

"… I got a C."

"Thought so. Did anything else happen today?"

"Well… Do you still remember what happened several days ago?"

"Several days ago?" Monaca placed a finger under her chin, head tilted to the left as she looked deep in thought. "Hmm… Oh! Now I remember; Big Sis got a B for her book report! That was quite the day; she was soooo happy with her report she was crying for hours! Want to see the picture I took of her?"

"I don't, and I'm not talking about that. Do you remember that teacher incident?"

"Oh, that. What about it?"

"I'm trying to gather clues for Kyoko. She's trying to find out who leaked those photos online, but at the moment she's busy with another case."

"So you're investigating in her stead. That's very thoughtful of you Big Bro, but maybe you should think twice before helping her. You could get into some serious doo-doo if you try to play detective, y'know?"

"I'll be fine Monaca. I wasn't planning on doing anything dangerous anyway. I'm just going to ask Komaru if she noticed anything strange at her school. That should be perfectly safe right?"

"Monaca still thinks you should mind your own business. Despite being the Ultimate Lucky Student you always seem to get into trouble wherever you go."

She had a point there. Then again, she was the cause of most of his troubles in the first place…

"Bad luck or not I'm still going to help her with this."

"Why am I not surprised about your answer?" Monaca sighed. "Suit yourself Big Bro. Don't say I didn't warn you."

He heard the sound of sirens in the distance. He didn't know whether they were from police cars or ambulances, but he nevertheless took it as a sign to get out of the streets before it gets dark.

Thirty minutes later they were standing at the front door of their house. He unlocked it with his house key and stepped aside to let Monaca in first. He also took a minute to check both sides of the street, and when he was sure there wasn't a serial killer following them, he stepped inside and closed the door.

"Welcome back!" Coming out of the hallway to greet them was Komaru. "Did you run into any trouble?"

"We did!" Monaca answered. "Big Bro and I saw a body on our way back!"

"A-A body!?"

"No, we didn't. Please don't lie to my sister Monaca."

"Oh, fine. We didn't see any bodies."

"Jeez, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Komaru sighed. "At least you two got home safely. This week has been pretty bad with all the murders and… well, what happened at school."

"Are you still thinking about that?" Monaca asked. "Why do you care so much about that teacher? Did you forget that he was cheating on his wife?"

"I didn't forget. I just… feel sorry for him. He did something bad for sure, but that doesn't mean I wanted him to jump from the school roof…"

"You're just too kind Big Sis. Bad people don't deserve any sympathy, so stop thinking about it, okay?"

"… Okay…" She didn't look at all relieved. Monaca either didn't notice or didn't care about that, as she was now peering at the living room behind his sister.

"That's great! After I talk to Kurokuma we'll start working on your drawing practice… Where is that bear anyway?"

"I think he's in the bathroom at the moment…"

"In the bathroom? He doesn't even have the capacity to poop." Monaca moved towards the hallway. "Oh well. I'll be waiting in your room once I'm done."

She disappeared from their sight. Now would be the perfect time to ask Komaru some questions, but with how she looked maybe he should ask at a different time…

"Are you feeling okay Komaru?" he asked.

"… Yeah, I'm fine." She flashed him a smile and a thumbs up. "I'm absolutely fine now Makoto!"

"Uh, are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I was just a bit overwhelmed by everything that's happened."

"You don't have to force yourself. If you want to talk I'm—"

"Oh come on Makoto." The smile on her face was gone as she crossed her arms. Now she looked rather annoyed. "I know I can get a bit emotional sometimes, but I'm fine now."

"Alright, if you say so…"

"I appreciate the offer though." She dropped the annoyed look and gave him a grin. "If I ever feel down again I'll be sure to talk to you or Monaca."

She started walking towards the hallway. "Hold on Komaru!" he called out. She turned herself back around.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Huh? Well sure; what do you want to know?"

"Can you tell me if you noticed anything strange at school before the incident? I'm helping out a friend with an investigation."

"Anything strange?" She placed a finger under her chin, face in deep thought. "Nothing really comes to mind…"

"It doesn't have to be from your school. If you noticed anything strange elsewhere that'll be fine as well."

"Hmm… I guess maybe that thing with Monaca was a bit weird…"

"Wait, what was that about Monaca?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. I was just remembering this time when Kurokuma came running down the hallway, shouting about an emergency."

"An emergency? What kind of emergency?"

"Apparently something went wrong with a game Monaca was playing. It didn't seem like something to get worried about, but Monaca pretty much dashed straight into the hallway when she heard it."

That did seem odd. It didn't sound like it had any relation to the incident… but what if it did? Could it be possible that Monaca was involved in some way…?

…

No no no, he was overthinking it. There's no definite proof that Monaca was in any way involved with this. If he accused her without anything to back up his claims it would only strain their relationship.

He promised that he would place his trust in her, so that's what he was going to do.

"Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all I could think of…" Komaru lowered her head. "Sorry Makoto. I wasn't that much help, was I?"

"It's okay. If anything this just means I'll have to work hard to find some clues."

"Big Sis, where are you?" They looked at the hallway. Calling out from somewhere inside was Monaca. "I've finished talking to Kurokuma."

"I'll be there in a minute!" Komaru replied. She looked back at him. "Do you still need help? If you want I—"

"No no, it's fine." He waved her off. "I can handle this, so go and have fun with Monaca."

"Well… alright. Good luck with your investigation!"

Komaru walked into the hallway. Since he couldn't get any clues from her, maybe he could search online? He entered the hallway as well and followed the path to his room. He opened the door and the first thing that caught his eye was the pile of papers in the middle of his room.

"Oh not again…" he muttered. This mess on the floor had to be the work of his roommate. He walked towards one of the scattered papers and picked it up.

"Idea for rap song one—that time I got arrested by the police," was written at the top left. In the middle of the page were lyrics, although if he had to be honest… they weren't that great.

He picked up another piece of paper. "Idea for rap song five—that time I placed dried tofu in Makoto's food for two weeks," was written on it this time.

"Well, that explains the weird aftertaste in my food…" He folded the paper and placed it into his pocket. He picked up another piece of paper.

"Idea for rap song twenty—that time Monaca and I drove a teacher to suicide," was written on this one.

… Wait. This couldn't be talking about—

"Hey hey, wassup! It's ya boy Kurokuma in the house!"

He turned around and was greeted with Kurokuma standing right behind him. He flinched, and at that exact moment, Kurokuma grabbed the sheet of paper right off his hands.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Kurokuma examined the paper in its paws. "Trying to sneak a peek into my latest album? That ain't cool bro."

He tried to grab the paper, but Kurokuma backed away from him.

"Whoa, easy there! This is my life's work after all."

"Give that back!"

"Huh? Why should I?" Kurokuma tilted its head. "This is my shit ya know?"

He lunged at Kurokuma. The bear dodged his charge without any effort, and so he ended up crashing into a wall. He could hear Kurokuma laughing behind him as he lay on the floor.

"Damn Makoto! That was quite the crash!" Kurokuma shouted in-between his laughter. "I think the whole house shook from that!"

"Ugh…" He placed a hand on a wall for support as he picked himself up. The world was still spinning as he stared at Kurokuma. "Give me back the paper…"

"You really want this paper huh?" Kurokuma flapped the paper at him. "Maybe I should just give it to ya… or not."

Kurokuma scrunched it up and tossed it inside its mouth.

"No!" He dashed at Kurokuma, but it was too late. The bear had closed its mouth by the time he reached it. He tried to force it open, but its mouth wouldn't budge.

"Man, that's some good ass paper!" Its mouth didn't even open when it talked. "You should give up on ever getting it back Makoto. Once something goes in my mouth it ain't ever coming back out!"

He let go of the bear's mouth and crouched down on the floor. He picked up and skimmed through every single paper for almost anything related to the incident, but none of them contained what he was looking for.

"You ain't gonna find anything," Kurokuma said. It walked over to his desk and opened up a drawer. "Why don't you just give up and forget what you saw okay?"

"You know I can't do that." He placed the papers back on the floor and got up. "You and Monaca had something to do with that incident, and you're going to tell me."

"Oh, I'm so scared!" Kurokuma took out a cigar from the drawer and placed it in its mouth. "Whatcha gonna do, kill me?"

It laughed. He was starting to lose his cool, but he forced himself from raising his voice.

"I'm being serious. If you don't tell me then I'll force you to."

"Drop the tough guy act Makoto. Everybody knows you're not one to use force."

"I will if the situation requires it."

"Oh really? Do your worst then!"

"… Don't say I didn't warn you." He walked towards his closet.

"Hey, where are you going? I'm standing right here y'know?"

Kurokuma chuckled. Getting physical with Kurokuma was suicide considering the bear was made entirely out of metal. But there was another way he could get the bear to talk…

He opened up the closet and took out one of Kurokuma's belongings. In his hands was a cigar bigger than one of his arms.

"What are you doing Makoto? You tryin' to have a smoke?"

He placed both of his hands at the end of the cigar and held it up to Kurokuma. "If you don't tell me, I'm going to snap this in two."

"Pfft, yeah right. You ain't got the balls—"

He snapped the cigar in two and dropped the pieces on the floor. Kurokuma didn't look down at the pieces. In fact, the bear wasn't making any movements at all; it was standing as still as a statue as it stared at him.

"… What the FUCK!" Kurokuma screamed out. It dashed towards the snapped cigar and dropped down to its knees. "Do you know how much I paid for this shit!?"

Kurokuma picked up the two pieces of the cigar and held it up to him. "I paid a goddamn fortune to export these from Cuba! Why the hell did you break it?!"

"I told you I was going to break it if you didn't listen," he replied. He felt bad for doing this, but he had to learn the truth. He grabbed another one of Kurokuma's belongings from his closet; a vinyl record with a signature on it.

"Get your hands off that!" Kurokuma jumped up to its feet. It tried to approach him, but it stopped in its tracks when he placed a hand on each side of the record.

"I'll put it back once you tell me what you know."

"Why are you being such an asshole Makoto? I told ya I made it all up! Just give me back the record and—"

He snapped the record in half.

"NOOOO! My fuckin' Jimi Hendrix record!" Kurokuma dashed at him and grabbed what remained of the record off his hands. "I had this signed by the man itself at one of my concerts!"

It dropped down to its knees again. "Oh, you done did it now Makoto! I'm going to make a diss track on you and post it on my social media!"

… Was he just wasting his time? So far his actions were just making Kurokuma angry, but there had to be _something_ that would make the bear talk.

He examined his closet for any more of Kurokuma's belongings. Only one item stood out to him.

"Please let this one work…" he muttered. He reached in and grabbed the item out. What was in his hands was a miniature golden statue in the image of Kurokuma, made from pure gold… or so the bear said.

"Oh fu—" Kurokuma stood up once it saw what was in his hands. "N-Now just hold on for a moment."

It seems like he picked the right one. "Tell me what you know Kurokuma, or else I'm going to smash it," he said.

"C-Come on Makoto. We're roommates, aren't we? How about we just talk this out—"

"I'll give you five seconds. Five…"

"You're bluffing! How can anyone possibly think to destroy a statue in my own image? I mean look at me! I'm fuckin' baller man!"

"Four…"

"Fuck you Makoto! After everything I did for you, this is what you do to me!? I thought we were soulmates!"

"Three…"

"If you give me back the statue right now I'll pay you one thousand— No, two thousand Monocoins!"

"Two…"

"… Ah shit, Monaca's gonna fuckin' kill me now…"

"One…" He raised the arm holding the statue.

"Okay! Okay! You fuckin' win!" Kurokuma held up its paws. "I'll talk!"

He lowered down his arm. Kurokuma let out a sigh and started to smoke on the spot.

"Start talking."

"Can't ya let a bear have a smoke first?"

He raised his arm again.

"Sheesh, alright man!" Kurokuma took out the cigar from its mouth. "Since when did a herbivore boy like you get so ballsy… So uh, promise me you won't get mad?"

"Just start talking."

Kurokuma began explaining to him everything. From how Monaca made him set up hidden cameras in the teacher's house, to how she blackmailed him into giving her money… and to how she leaked out those photos to the public.

"… And that's how Monaca and I made a million dollars in a couple of weeks!" Kurokuma said. It placed the cigar in its hand back to its mouth. "You got any questions?"

"… No."

"Perfect. Now, can I have that back please?"

Kurokuma held out a paw. He handed over the statue, and as soon as it was in its hands the bear moved as far away from him as possible.

"Phew, that was close!" Kurokuma said. "You looked like you were about to throw it on the ground Makoto!"

"…"

"… Uh, Makoto? You okay there buddy? Wait, where are you—!?"

He was already out of the door before Kurokuma could finish. He moved through the hallway towards Komaru's room, and when he saw the door was closed he forced himself to open it with as little force as possible.

His sister was hunched over her desk, back turned towards him as she drew on something in front of her. Monaca was watching right next to her, and when he entered she turned her attention away from the desk to him.

"Oh, Big Bro!" she called out. She was smiling at him, but that smile morphed into a frown as she continued to stare. "Is something wrong?"

"… I need to talk to you," he replied.

"Ummm, can it wait a bit? Monaca's sorta busy helping out—"

"No! We need to talk Monaca!"

His outburst made Komaru yelp in surprise. She placed down the pencil in her hand and turned around to look at him.

"What's wrong Makoto!?" she asked. "Did something happen!?"

"… No, no, nothing happened," he answered. "I just need to talk to Monaca privately."

"Really? You seem kinda… angry."

"I'm fine Komaru." He forced a smile on his face. "I just got a bit excited there for a moment…"

"Well… alright." She didn't look so convinced. He focused his attention back on Monaca. Unlike his sister she wasn't startled by his outburst; she instead seemed rather curious about it.

"Please Monaca. This is important."

"… Okay Big Bro!" Monaca smiled at him. "If that's what you want!"

She looked at Komaru. "Don't slack off while I'm gone, Big Sis!" She waved goodbye to her as she followed him back to his room. Once inside he noticed that Kurokuma was nowhere to be found. His closet was also closed, even though he was pretty sure it was opened when he left his room.

"Sooooo, what is it you want to talk about?" Monaca asked, and closed the door to his room.

"… I know what you did Monaca," he said.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" She tilted her head.

"Stop pretending like you don't know. Kurokuma told me everything that you've done in the past weeks."

"… Did he now?" Her expression wasn't giving him any hint to what she's feeling. "And you believe what he said?"

"I do."

"… Alright!" And just like that, she was smiling at him. "I guess there's no point in trying to hide it anymore."

"So you admit it?"

"Yep! That teacher incident was all caused by Monaca!"

He couldn't hold in his anger anymore. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Why are you getting so angry Big Bro?" She still had a smile on her face.

"Why am I— Because you hurt someone!"

"And? He was a bad person who was cheating on his wife, so he deserved it. Anyway, how did you get Kurokuma to talk? I can't imagine him telling you all of this out of nowhere. Did you beat him up with your fists? Poked his other eye out? Made him listen to jazz?"

"Stop trying to change the subject! You promised me you wouldn't hurt anyone Monaca!"

"I promised not to hurt anyone from your school or my school. You never said anything about Komaru's school."

"What difference does it make?!"

"Plenty in my opinion." Monaca stopped smiling. "I didn't hurt him for fun y'know. I was just trying to protect Big Sis."

"You're lying!"

"It's the truth. You know what Komaru is like Makoto; she's too gullible. That makes her the perfect target for creeps like that teacher to take advantage of her."

"He didn't do anything to her though!"

"That's true, but it doesn't change the fact that he had an affair with a girl around her age. Are you really comfortable having a man like that around your sister?"

"I… No, I wouldn't," he admitted. "But that doesn't explain why you extorted him out of his money!"

"I was doing that to punish him. Plus, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to regain all the money I lost. Did Kurokuma tell you about how I spent half a million to protect you?"

"What? No, he didn't."

"And I thought you said he told you everything. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago the director of Hope's Peak Orphanage came by to visit me. She threatened to do some awful things to you and our family, but thanks to Monaca we managed to work something out."

"How do I know if you're telling the truth?"

"We aren't getting any more visits from them, are we?"

"Well… I guess not."

"You see." Monaca looked down at the ground, a frown on her face as she continued, "I just want to protect the people I care about Big Bro… Maybe I did go a bit overboard with the teacher, but it was all for Komaru's sake, honest. Won't you forgive me…?"

She sounded so sincere he felt awful that he still doubted her. "I… appreciate you looking out for us, but I just can't overlook what you did. You caused someone to jump off a building."

"But he survived, didn't he…?"

"He's in the hospital Monaca. Even if your intentions were good it doesn't change what happened."

"… Why do care so much anyway?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'm saying why do you care so much about that teacher?" Monaca looked up at him. The sad expression from before was gone; now she seemed rather curious. "The man had an affair with a student, and yet you don't seem all that bothered by it. Are you interested in that sort of thing Big Bro?"

"No, I'm not."

"Really? Then are you friends with him?"

"No."

"So why do you care if he jumped off a building?"

"Because you caused it! He did something terrible for sure, but that doesn't give you the right to treat him like some sort of toy!"

Monaca sighed. "Y'know, there's such a thing as having too much empathy for others. The world is an uncaring and dangerous place Makoto, filled with people who wouldn't hesitate to abuse that kindness of yours."

"Not everyone is as cruel as you think they are!"

"And not everyone is as kind as you think either. You're too soft-hearted, and that's going to come back to bite you. In fact, I just thought of the perfect scenario to demonstrate that. Would you like to hear it?"

He nodded. "Let's say a serial killer broke into our house and took everyone hostage except for you," she continued, "He hands you a gun and tells you to kill someone. If you comply, he'll leave and the rest of us gets to live for another day. If you don't, well, he'll kill us one by one until you're the last one alive."

"I'm guessing I can't talk him down in this scenario, can I?"

"Nope, so who do you choose? Is it me? Komaru? Mum or dad?"

"… I—"

"Oops! Too late! The killer points his gun at me and blows my head clean off!"

"What?! You didn't give me enough time!"

"The killer doesn't care. So, who do you choose next?"

"I… I…"

"Bang! There goes your dad! Only two people left Big Bro. Are you going to choose your mum, or are you going to choose Komaru?"

Damn it, Monaca wasn't giving him any time to think! How the hell could he make a decision like this in the first place?!

"…"

"What's wrong Makoto? Did you give up?"

"I… I can't choose…" he muttered.

"Well, that's a shame." Monaca looked disappointed. "I guess we can say bye-bye to Komaru and your mum."

"What would you do in that situation then!?"

"Me? Well, I'm glad you asked!" She smiled. "I would have shot someone!"

"You— You would!?"

"Yep! Care to guess who?"

She had to be joking… How could she make a decision like that so easily!? He couldn't even imagine hurting anyone from his family, and yet the girl in front of him told him she would with a smile!

"I'm not joking if that's what you're thinking," Monaca said. "Monaca really would shoot someone."

Who out of his family would Monaca shoot? Could it be Komaru? His mum? His dad? Or maybe…

"Is it… is it me?"

"…"

Monaca's smile dropped. No way… she… she wouldn't—

"… Pffft! Why would I shoot you Makoto?"

"H-Huh?"

"You're my accomplice remember? Why would I kill someone so useful to me?"

"T-Then who would you shoot?!"

She giggled. "Isn't it obvious? The killer of course!"

"The— The killer? B-But I thought—"

"That you had to kill someone from your family? The killer never said you couldn't shoot him, riiiight?"

"Well… no, he didn't…"

"You see. It's such an easy answer to a difficult solution… and yet, it never even occurred to you to shoot him."

"Th-That's because—"

"Because what? Because of how I said it? Even so, killing someone from your family should be the last thing on your mind, don't you think? You could have even said that you'd shoot yourself to save them, but you didn't. Do you value your own life over theirs?"

"N-No… That's not…"

"But y'know, I don't even think that's the worst part. Even if you knew you could shoot the killer to save your family, you still wouldn't be able to pull the trigger. Am I wrong, Big Bro?"

He glanced at the ground as Monaca gazed at him. He wanted to refute her, to say anything to prove her wrong… but he couldn't.

"Do you finally understand? Sometimes you have to do bad things to help the ones you love."

Would he do whatever it takes to protect his family, even at the cost of someone's life…?

"… I'm sorry."

"Huh?" He looked back at Monaca. Her head was lowered towards the ground, eyes avoiding his gaze as she… teared up?

"I'm sorry for putting you in such a difficult spot…" Monaca's voice quavered as she spoke. "Murder is such an awful thing, isn't it?"

"Well… of course it is?"

"And yet I forced you to consider it. I forced you to think about killing your mum, your dad, Komaru… all to prove a point. You must really hate me now…"

Tears were starting to drip from her eyes. "H-Hold on Monaca!" he said. "I don't hate you!"

"R-Really?" She wiped away her tears and looked him in the eye. "I don't believe you…"

"I'm telling the truth."

"Then… can you say you forgive Monaca?"

"I…" Should he really forgive her that easily, after everything she did?

"Isn't it better to just forgive and forget?" she asked. "Why should our relationship be ruined because of something like this?"

"It's not that simple…"

"But it is. All you need to do is say the magic words and everything will be back to normal. We can go back to setting up another date with Big Sis Junko, or maybe we can go and help Komaru with her drawings. Don't you want that?"

Monaca reached out and clasped her hands onto his left.

"I know it may not mean much, but I promise that I'll never do something like this ever again. You don't have to believe me now, but if you forgive me I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you."

Maybe… maybe he should just forgive her…

He opened his mouth to say his answer, but then he saw it. For almost a split second the corners of Monaca's mouth twitched upward.

Damn it! She was manipulating him!

He pulled his left hand out of her grip. The sudden movement caused Monaca to step back, confusion clear on her face.

"What's wrong Makoto?" she asked.

"You— You were just trying to manipulate me just now!" he said.

"Huh? What are you talking abou—"

"Don't lie to me Monaca! This whole conversation was just a trick to make me forgive you, wasn't it?!"

"…"

"Answer me!"

… Monaca smiled. "Well, you got me!" she answered. "I'm impressed you managed to figure it out."

She walked towards her wheelchair and sat down in it. That damn smile was still on her face as she asked, "So, what now? Are you going to punish me?"

"You…!" The fact that she could sit there and _smile_ at him, after what she did moments earlier, was starting to make him lose it! But the anger he was feeling towards her was nothing compared to how ashamed he was.

Was… Was all of his efforts to change her pointless? He really wanted to believe that his actions were having an effect on her, but after this… he didn't know what to think anymore.

Why couldn't she understand that hurting people was an awful thing to do?!

… Wait. Maybe… maybe she _actually_ couldn't understand why it's bad.

"Monaca… can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"A question?" Monaca tilted her head a bit. "Hmm… Sure! Ask away!"

"Do you feel any remorse for how you treated me in the past?"

"Remorse?" She placed a finger under her chin, her expression making it seem like she was deep in thought. "I mean, not really? It's all in the past right, so why should I waste my time thinking about things that I can't change?"

"…"

"… Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

"… You're a sociopath."

"I'm sorry? Did you just call me a… sociopath?"

He nodded. Monaca stared at him for a few seconds… and then burst into laughter.

"That's a pretty funny joke Big Bro!" Monaca shouted in-between her laughter. "I mean, a cute girl like me, a sociopath? That's impossible!"

She kept on laughing, but her laughter eventually slowed down as she continued to look at him.

"… Wait, are you being serious?"

"I am," he answered.

"Oh please. I never met a sociopath once in my life, and do you want to know why? It's because sociopaths are just like unicorns; they don't exist."

"They do exist, and right now you're fitting all the traits of one."

"I never knew you were a psychologist, Big Bro. And what are you going to do about it if I am a sociopath? Are you going to throw me into a mental hospital? Kick me out on the street?"

"I'm going to get you a therapist."

"A— A therapist?"

"Yes, a therapist."

She looked rather annoyed at hearing that. He really had no other choice here; how could he alone help someone who was incapable of feeling empathy?

He needed an expert, and the only one that came to mind was the Ultimate Therapist.

"Please tell me you're pulling my leg," Monaca said.

"I'm not," he replied. "I know somebody at school who can help you."

"I! Don't! Need! Any! Help!" She scowled at him. "Monaca is perfectly healthy in body, mind, and spirit! I don't need therapy!"

"It's for your own good! Whether you like it or not I'm going to book a therapist!"

He moved towards the door to leave, but his path was blocked by Monaca.

"Move Monaca! I'm not going to change my mind!"

"Just think about this for a moment! How would your family react if I suddenly start to go to therapy? They'll start to think that's there something wrong with me!"

"There's nothing I can do about that!"

"Yes! There! Is! Just don't book a stupid therapist and forget about this!"

He tried to move around her, but Monaca kept blocking his way every time. This kept going for a while, and eventually, he decided to just force his way through her. But before he could do that…

A knock on the door made them froze.

"Um… Hello? Is everything okay in there?"

They both looked at the door, and then at each other.

"… Play along." Monaca changed her scowl to a smile as she approached the door. She opened it up and stepped aside to let Komaru in.

"Hello Big Sis!" Monaca greeted. "Is there something wrong?"

"Well, um, I heard a lot of shouting from this room." She glanced at them both with a worried expression. "Are you two fighting?"

"Fighting? Oh no no no, we weren't fighting! We were just excited that Big Bro passed his test! Isn't that right?"

They both looked at him. "Yeah, we just got too excited that's all," he said.

Just like before Komaru didn't seem so convinced by his lie. "I don't know… It definitely sounded like you two were arguing."

"It must be your imagination. Big Bro and I get along like a house on fire! What reason would there be for us to fight?"

Monaca moved towards his sister and clasped her left hand onto her right. She then tried to lead Komaru towards the door.

"Now that we cleared things up, I think it's time you get back to your drawings! Big Bro and I still have something we need to discuss."

"Actually, I think we're finished," he said.

"Huh?" Monaca stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What are you talking about? We still need to talk about that very important thing, _right?_"

"We can talk about that tomorrow. Besides, I promised you I wouldn't take too long to talk, remember?"

"… Did you now." He was almost certain that she was angry, but neither her expression nor tone showed it. "I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to talk a while longer."

"Sorry Monaca, but I have something urgent to do today."

"… Alright then. Have a good evening, Big Bro."

He walked towards the door, one foot on the outside when—

"I hope your decision doesn't come back to haunt you."

He paused. A part of him wanted to glance back to see what expression Monaca's making, but he took the final step out of his room and closed the door.

* * *

"…"

… Well now, that conversation went rather poorly. Not only did my stupid accomplice found out about my fun little hobby, but now he was convinced that I was a sociopath.

"Um, what did you mean by that Monaca?"

Really? Me, a _sociopath?_ How absurd. Just because I couldn't care less about other people didn't mean I had some sort of illness. I simply had more important things to worry about in life.

"… Monaca? Can you hear me?"

And now my idiotic accomplice was planning to send me to therapy. Just thinking about it was making me so, sooooo mad. Now everyone in his family was going to suspect that something's wrong with me.

"… Are you there? Y-You're sorta squeezing my hand too hard…"

Ever since I came back from Towa city he had grown bolder against me. Maybe Kurokuma was right; I really had grown soft because of this family's bad influence. My past self would be disgusted to see what I was like now…

But there's still time to change that. My slave still didn't know that the blackmail photos were deleted. Maybe I could still threaten him with those non-existent photos, or perhaps I needed to create new blackmail material. If blackmail still didn't work then I'd—

"Monaca!"

"Huh?" I looked at my adoptive sister. I also let go of her hand once I realised I had been squeezing it.

My adoptive sister shook her right hand. "Jeez, I've been calling your name for almost a minute now!" she said. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah Big Sis!" I replied. "Monaca was just thinking hard about something."

"Does it have to with Makoto?"

"Nope! It was just something about school."

She sighed. "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"What? Why would Monaca do that?"

"Do I really seem that dumb? I know I'm not exactly the brightest person on the Earth, but even I could tell there's something going on between you two."

"Well…" Oh great, now my adoptive sister was starting to get suspicious of me.

"I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to! You must have a pretty good reason why you can't tell me, right?"

I nodded. "So, uh, all I'm really trying to tell you is… that you can rely on me too you know? I may not be my brother, b-but no matter what kind of problem you have, I'll always be there to support you! So please, try and have some faith in me!"

"…"

"… Um, did I make you upset?"

… Perhaps I shouldn't be too hasty in dealing with my traitorous accomplice. My relationship with him was on shaky ground because of this stupid incident, and if I want to be successful in life I have to do all I could to maintain it.

If I had to go to some stupid therapy session to please him, then so be it.

I smiled at my sister. "Not at all Big Sis! It's nice to know that you'll do anything to help me."

"No problem!" my sister said, and gave me a smile as well. "Although I don't think I'll do _anything_ to help you…"

"That's fine." I pointed at the door. "Let's get back to your room Big Sis. Big Bro Makoto might not be happy with us if we stayed here any longer."

My sister walked towards the door, but when she noticed that I hadn't moved she stopped and turned around. "Aren't you coming?"

"I just remembered that I have one last thing to do here!" I replied. "Go ahead without me."

"Well, alright." My sister opened up the door and closed it on the way out. Once I couldn't hear her footsteps anymore I looked around my surroundings.

"Come here Kurokuma!" I called out.

There was a crash behind me. I turned around to see that Kurokuma had fallen out of the closet.

"Fuck, I can finally breathe…!" Kurokuma muttered. It got up and looked around, its body freezing up once it saw me looking at it.

"… Oh shit."

"There you are!" I approached Kurokuma. It held up its hands as it backed away from me.

"L-Listen Monaca! I know that you're pissed at me, b-but I really had no choice but to tell him!"

"Why are you so scared Kurokuma?" I gave the bear my best smile. "I just want to talk to you."

"H-He was breakin' my shit okay! Do you know how much money I had to borrow from his mum just to pay for the shipping!? Close to half a million!"

"So your valuables are more important to you than me? That makes Monaca soooo sad…"

Kurokuma's back touched a wall. It looked around back and forth as I came closer and closer, and once I was close enough it dropped down onto its knees and placed its head onto the ground.

"C-Come on Monaca! I'm literally begging ya here!"

"… Okay, I forgive you."

"I don't even like rap! I'm more of a jazz fan myself! So please— Wait, what?"

Kurokuma looked up at me. "I forgive you," I repeated.

"Y-You do…?" Kurokuma jumped up to its feet. "I mean, of course you do! Who wouldn't be able to forgive a bear this awesome?!"

It laughed. Its laughter was cut short, however, when I reached into the closet and pulled out a gaudy statue in its image.

"Uh, Monaca? What are ya doing?"

"I'm just taking a look." I examined the statue in my hand. "Now that I think about it, isn't it unfair that you get to walk away without any form of punishment?"

"P-Punishment?" It seemed scared for a moment, but then it chuckled. "Oh, stop joking around Monaca! Didn't you say you already forgave—"

"Should I smash this statue as a form of punishment?" I placed the statue on the ground and lifted a foot up.

"Wait wait wait! Anything but that!"

"Anything you say?" I placed my foot back down. "So anything else will be better than smashing this statue?"

"Y-Yeah! You can do whatever you want with me, but just don't break that statue!"

"Then rewriting your personality will be fine, right?"

"Huh? What do you—"

"Shut up."

Kurokuma stiffened, its body twitching on the spot as I watched it with a smile.

"You don't have to worry about a thing Kurokuma," I said. "All I'm going to do is make you a bit more… obedient, okay?"

It didn't respond of course, not that I really cared. I moved to the side of the bear and began pushing it towards the only computer in the room.

If there's one good thing to come out of this, I at least wouldn't have to hear Kurokuma "rap" for a while now…

* * *

Days since relocation to Hope's Peak Academy: One month, three weeks and five days.

Number of patients received during period… zero.

…

She sighed. Transfer to Hope's Peak Academy had thus far proven to be a waste of time. Students in the Main Course seemed almost hesitant to attend any of her sessions, despite her (or more appropriately, her avatar) giving a speech on the benefits of therapy.

Asking the students if they wanted to attend her sessions had also been a wasteful expenditure of energy. One reason was due to the fact that students were allowed to live off-campus; a far cry from her time here as a student. Students who chose to live somewhere else rather than their dorms have all given her different variations of the phrase, "I'm busy."

As for the ones who chose to stay in their dorms, they had proven to be rather… difficult. They all regarded her with varying degrees of suspicion. One of them even had a preconceived notion that she was "a robot assassin sent by the mafia." All attempts to communicate with the student had ended in failure.

… Despite all of that, there were some benefits to her temporary transfer. Lack of patients meant she had valuable time to work on the Neo World Program. Estimated time of completion had progressed to seventy percent, and if things were to stay the same the program should be ready in three more months.

She glanced around her office. Living conditions were, albeit marginally, also improved by coming to Hope's Peak Academy. The dorm provided to her by the Steering Committee had belonged to a member of the student council. With a few adjustments, the dorm now looked similar to her old office, although with far less clutter due to the large space.

But the most significant (and most beneficial in her opinion) improvement was the almost complete lack of interaction with other people at Hope's Peak Academy. Her duties did not require her to leave her dorm unless it was absolutely necessary.

As of today, she held a total of two complete conversations. Increasing this total any further was deemed unnecessary.

She glanced at the time on her monitor. Five more minutes left before her work was concluded. The probability of her receiving a patient at this time was close to ten percent—

A pop-up containing a phone number appeared on her screen.

"…"

… She frowned. Probability of receiving a patient now was eighty percent. She answered it and began typing in her response.

"Hello!" her avatar said. "This is Miaya Gekkogahara speaking! How may I help you?"

"Uh, hi. My name is Makoto Naegi, and I'm calling to make an appointment?"

"Are you a Main Course Student at Hope's Peak Academy?"

"Yeah, I am."

She searched the caller's name on her monitor. A file popped up on her screen. She opened it and began reading through it.

Subject name: Makoto Naegi.

Occupation: Main Course student at Hope's Peak Academy.

Attributes: Subject currently held the title of Ultimate Lucky Student. Subject appeared to have no particular strengths or weaknesses in anything.

Therapy required: no. Apart from being involved in a few incidents subject appeared to be behaving at school and in public.

"I've just confirmed that you're telling the truth," her avatar said. "So you wish to make an appointment with me?"

"Well… not for me. It's for my little sister."

"Your little sister? Is she also part of the Main Course?"

"Uh, no, she isn't."

Caution, annoyance levels were rising. "I'm sorry Makoto, but my services are only for Main Course Students."

"Really? But I thought anybody could make an appointment with you?"

"It's unfortunate, but the Steering Committee has forbidden me from offering my services to anybody else aside from the Main Course…"

"Not even for Lil' Ultimates?"

"Not even for them."

"Well… that's a shame…"

"Is your sister a Lil' Ultimate?" her avatar asked.

"Yeah. Her talent is the Lil' Ultimate Homeroom."

"That's a rather interesting talent. What's her name?"

"Her name's Monaca."

"…"

"… Uh, hello? Is anybody there?"

Warning, heart rate was increasing dramatically. Recommended to take deep, deep breaths to calm down.

She took a deep breath and let it out. Perhaps her auditory functions were simply impaired at the moment.

"I'm sorry, but could you please repeat her name again?"

"Um, sure. Her name's Monaca."

"…"

"… Hello? Is everything all right there?"

"Does her name contain a c instead of a k?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, it does."

She searched for the Lil' Ultimate on her monitor. She immediately opened up the file that popped up and began reading through it.

Subject name: Monaca Naegi.

Age: unknown. Assumed to be around ten to twelve years old.

Date of birth: unknown.

Attributes: Was given the talent of Lil' Ultimate Homeroom. Was raised in Hope's Peak Orphanage and was currently in the "trouble-makers class" at Hope's Peak Elementary School.

Therapy required: unknown. More information was required.

… So that's what happened to her. There was a fifty percent chance that he would send her to an orphanage, but to send her all the way over here was a possibility she had not considered. Had she known this sooner then perhaps she might have—

She frowned. Thinking about the past now was pointless. Her current objective should be deciding her next course of action based on this information.

The most logical option available to her was to direct the subject to another therapist and forget what she just learned. Re-entering the girl's life after all these years would do more harm than good. If the girl were to learn who she was there was a high probability that she would react… poorly, to put it mildly.

… But for reasons unknown, a part of her wanted to meet the girl despite the potential consequences. Was this out of some sense of guilt, or perhaps she was simply curious? Whatever it was, it played a part in finalising her decision.

"… Perhaps I can make an exception just for you."

"Wait, really? Didn't you say the Steering Committee forbade you from helping people outside the Main Course?"

"I did, but I just can't ignore someone that needs my help, especially since it's a child!"

She could hear the subject sighing in relief on the other end. "Thank you so much Miaya! You don't know how happy I am to receive your help."

"There's no need to thank me." She opened up a new document on her monitor before continuing, "Now, please tell me what kind of problem Monaca is experiencing."

The subject began explaining about the girl's situation. She wrote down everything he said onto her document, her eyes occasionally glancing at the profile of the girl in question whenever her name was mentioned.

It seems this trip wasn't a waste of time after all…

* * *

A/N: I was thinking of splitting this chapter into two parts considering how long it was, but I was pretty much almost at the end, so I decided not to.

This wasn't exactly a fun chapter like the last one, but I felt it was necessary to show that Monaca still had some issues, most notably her complete lack of empathy. I'm pretty sure Monaca in canon is a sociopath, considering how even before she met Junko she seemed perfectly fine to watch her classmates jump of a building as a "prank." All Junko really did was give her a goal to work towards.

Ah well, I doubt anybody really cared about my thought process for this chapter. I'm at least happy to know that my story here is entertaining to some people.


End file.
